


golden hour

by amilynholdo



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017), The Worst Witch - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Gen, Slow Burn, and mostly just a variety of excuses for me to put Julie Hubble in shawls, anyway im soft, listen this is just a big found family-ish mess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-07-27 06:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 41,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20041153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amilynholdo/pseuds/amilynholdo
Summary: one summer, and how it changes things.





	1. Chapter 1

_“Also I wanted_

_to be able to love. And we all know_

_how that one goes,_

_don’t we?_

_Slowly”_

-Mary Oliver

* * *

Julie sort of forgets about Marvin, until he gets tired of calling her and gives up. She knows she’s supposed to feel sorry, but, once again, she’s been too busy saving a magical school to care. Now, most people’s children’s hobbies are something more like sports, or music, or horse-riding, but apparently this has become her daughter’s, and she_ did _promise her to always support her interests no matter what. Here is the situation.

A magical teenager has turned up to her apartment with a broomstick-flying dog, and she knows she should be more alarmed, but at this point she’s used to witches swooping in on her life. And besides, this might be a magical teenager, but she’s also a terrified teenager, and Julie knows how to deal with that. After the whole ordeal with the impostor is over, after the school is safe and the pupils are starting to head home, she thinks of Indigo, clinging to her sofa like a castaway clings to land after a shipwreck. She thinks of her words, of her having been ‘here and there’, not having anyone left. If the kid had felt alone 30 years ago, she can’t imagine how truly abandoned she might feel now. She realises she’s going to have to discuss something with Mildred.

* * *

It turns out she doesn’t have to. At about the time she’s expecting her daughter and her familiar to fly home, Hecate Hardbroom’s face appears in her bedroom’s mirror instead. Just when she thought she’d had enough of her for the day. The teacher is sitting ramrod straight in what Julie recognises as Miss Cackle’s office, and through the mirror her gaze appears different than usual. _Softer, even._

‘Miss Hardbroom.’ Julie is proud of herself for being able to mask her surprise at seeing the other woman again so soon.

‘Ms Hubble...’ From her tone, Julie cannot make out her intentions. ‘I have been asked to summon you to the school, and I thought warning you in advance might… save all of us some of the… inconveniences we have encountered in the past.’

_Oh. That sounds. Almost considerate?_ ‘Thank you for your warning, Miss Hardbroom, I’m ready whenever you are, and this time I’m even dressed!’ Julie’s chuckle is met with a scandalised look. Okay then. Not in the joking mood.

And just like that, the sensation of being transferred, familiar by now, overtakes her, and she finds herself in front of Miss Hardbroom, Miss Cackle, Mildred, and Indigo Moon.

‘What is it this time? Aren’t you lot tired of picking on Millie, when she’s saved your lives several times by now?’ She sighs, hoping the teachers can hear that she is not angry, just exasperated.

‘You have not been sent for to discuss your daughter’s discipline, Ms Hubble.’ Now, that’s a new one from Hardbroom.

‘Mildred’s shortcomings have already been addressed directly with her,’ Miss Cackle clarifies. ‘In light of Mildred’s displays of selflessness in recent events, we have decided to leave any kind of disciplinary action for next year, leaving her the whole summer to reflect on her actions...’ Miss Cackle’s stern expression now breaks into her usual kind smile ‘…And to get the rest she deserves after once again playing a key role in the school’s survival.’

Millie is beaming proudly from her seat, hands squeezing the armrests to stop herself from leaping up and doing a happy dance. Indy looks at her with positively triumphant grin. And Julie wouldn’t swear on it but… _is that the slightest upturn on Hecate Hardbroom’s lips?_

‘What you have, in fact, been summoned to discuss, is a proposition from Miss Moon.’ Miss Cackle turns to Indigo and nods in approval. Indy is still smiling when she speaks, but her feet are tapping nervously on the ground.

‘I was thinking. I know this is a lot to ask but. I don’t know where to stay for the summer, and you were so kind to me earlier, and Mildred suggested, so. Could I come stay with you for a while?’ She looks at Julie with such hope in her eyes, and Mildred has such a pleading look on her face when she asks her ‘Please, Mum, please!’, that even if she hadn’t already been thinking of doing this, she might have considered it.

‘Thank you, girls. Naturally,’ specifies the Headmistress, ‘all expenses would be covered by Cackle’s, but when Mildred advanced Indigo’s idea I thought it might work perfectly. We thought perhaps this arrangement would be beneficial for Mildred and Indigo, as their unique experiences in both the magical and ordinary world are not shared by anyone else in the castle, and it would provide the two of them with some much-needed stability.’

It is only when Miss Cackle finishes that Julie notices how awfully silent Miss Hardbroom has been this whole conversation. This is not like her at all. Julie would expect her to jump at the very thought of Indy coming to stay with the Hubbles, decrying the whole endeavour ‘highly irregular’ or some other nonsense like that. But no, she stays silent, and seems to be studying the hem of her sleeves with great intent. Julie is tempted to address this, but decides against it, half out of respect for the woman’s privacy, half out of terror of her reaction. Instead, she answers the proposition.

‘You know, girls,’ she addresses this directly to the individuals concerned, as she has never been one to underestimate her daughter’s judgement or any of her friends’, ‘I was actually considering asking the same to Mildred as soon as she got home.’ She punctuates the sentence with a big smile, and is met with a set of two matching ones. 

* * *

So Indigo does move in. The flat is a bit small, but there is enough space for everyone. Miss Cackle accompanies Indigo on her way there, and magics a second bed in Mildred’s room. The girls spend their first day at home decorating a doghouse to put on the balcony for Star. When Julie asks them whether it wouldn’t be quicker to use magic, they laugh and say it’s more fun this way.

It is incredible how little time it takes for Indigo to thrive, when offered a home. In just a week, she relaxes into her new life. Mostly, her and Mildred spend time taking Star to the park and on the Internet watching silly cat videos, Indy’s latest discovery that she and Mil seems to be determined to recreate with Tabby. One day they find a pair of roller blades in a charity shop, and Mildred convinces Julie to buy them for Indy, and to dig out her old ones for Mildred. After that, they zoom around the neighbourhood all afternoon, laughing until dinnertime. After the whole art teacher at Cackle’s debacle, Julie has found a job leading art workshops in a nursing home, thanks to the references Miss Cackle has surprisingly provided (admittedly doctored as to not reveal the nature of her previous workplace). She has to leave the house every morning, but the girls keep each other company. On the first Saturday of holiday, they visit Julie’s sister at her newly-opened café, introducing Mo and her wife to ‘Millie’s new friend from her fancy school who’s staying for the holidays while her parents are abroad’. Said friend seems oddly fascinated with the concept of bubble tea.

Of course, it can’t all be good. Indy has trouble respecting her authority, which Julie knows is a result of the child’s struggle believing she won’t be abandoned again, but, as her caretaker, she still can’t let it slide. She gets snappy and talks back sometimes, and Mildred sometimes does her more harm than good by defending her at all costs, feeling responsible for her friend. Julie just wishes she could help the kid, she has considered asking some of her colleagues for advice on getting Indigo in therapy. But she doubts any ordinary therapists are equipped to deal with teenagers traumatised by having been exposed to dangerous and unstable magical powers, and then petrified for 30 years, only to wake up to find time has gone by behind their backs. She does wish there was another way to help, though. She will have to contact Cackle’s and ask about a magical equivalent to therapists, but considering the things Millie has been telling her, Julie somehow struggles to believe the Magical World is a beacon of positive approaches to mental health.

* * *

Hecate sits at her desk, Morgana at her feet. The castle is starting to feel lonely. It’s not that she is unused to the students not being here, it has been like this every summer since she’s been here. But at least usually Ada is here, as well as Miss Bat, most of the time. That is, before she was reunited with Algernon. Now, the newlyweds are finally on honeymoon, and Hecate cannot resent them for it. Ada is visiting a relative in Scotland, which she has neglected to do all these years, unwilling to leave Hecate on her own while she couldn’t leave. So Hecate cannot begrudge her doing so, now that she _could_ technically leave. And Dimity… Well, Hecate would rather be alone that in Miss Drill’s company, so she’s not at all disappointed that she’s at some water-broom event on a remote island, and then will spend the rest of her summer in the Amazon, trying, in her usual self-conceit, to singlehandedly stop deforestation. _No, _she is not missing anybody_. At all. let alone Dimity Drill. _

That doesn’t change how empty the hallways are, and how long her days, with no one to share them with. She spends them in her room, mainly, reading and preparing her next research project. And thinking. She’s been doing a lot of thinking. Which is how she came to sit at this desk, ready to sign a letter that she knows will change things for her. Whether that will be for better or for worse, she cannot say.

* * *

Sometimes Julie feels truly powerless when it comes to helping Indigo. She tells herself she’s doing her best by providing shelter, stability, and support, but she doesn’t know if that’s enough. It sure doesn’t feel like it is when, on Indigo’s eighth night with them, she hears the child wake up in the middle of the night after a nightmare, and Mildred, bless her heart, whispering to her to calm her down. She doesn’t know whether she should address this and risk the kid feeling like her trust has been breached, or stay silent and risk it getting worse. She decides that she can’t in good consciousness do nothing. She gets up and knocks very lightly on the girls’ door, light enough that if she isn’t welcome they can just pretend not to hear and ignore her. They do not ignore her. The next morning, she wakes up sat on the floor next to Millie’s bed, her head resting on next to her daughter’s on her pillow. Her own hand is outstretched over the child to hold Indigo’s, who seems to be sleeping peacefully, if a bit uncomfortably for the lack of space on the bed. She doesn’t seem to mind that.

Julie knows her back isn’t what it used to be, and it will probably kill her for the rest of the week, but she decides it was worth it. Right as she is starting to – very painfully – get up, she hears a knock come from the living room with enough urgency to be heard across the corridor. She hurries up and heads towards the room. She hears another knock right as she’s turning the corner to see a figure hovering outside her window. _What the…_ What is Hecate Hardbroom doing riding a broomstick outside her apartment in the middle of a school holiday?

The teacher seems to be quite eager to get in once she sees Julie, and knocks a third time, this time with even more vehemence. Julie rolls her eyes and takes her time walking to the window. It is still 6am after all, and no amount of magic can convince her body to act as if it was any other time. Also, maybe she might be finding the sight of Deputy Headmistress Hecate Hardbroom hovering on the other side of the glass, moving her mouth but making no sound that Julie can hear, like a fish in a tank, a little bit funny. Only a bit. She gestures to the witch to come in from the other side, from the door on the balcony, and heads towards it. At her pace, by the time she gets there she finds the witch standing outside of it, looking like a slightly apprehensive lamp-post.

‘Miss Hardbroom, please, come in.’

She shows the witch in, trying her best to look the least surprised possible.

‘Thank you, Ms Hubble’ Hardbroom pronounces the title with her usual buzzing ‘s’, which Julie has come to find almost endearing, against her better judgement. She gestures for the witch to pass her her cloak and broomstick, which she does with surprisingly little fuss, and she arranges them against a chair in the tidiest way possible. Miss Hardbroom follows Julie’s indication to please sit down. Julie feels suddenly self-conscious about the state of the room, what with two teenagers living in the tiny space and her having gone back to work full-time.

‘Can I offer you anything? Tea?’ She’s still not sure what the etiquette for having proper adult witches over is, but she reckons no one will refuse a nice cuppa at this time in the morning.

‘No tha…’ Miss Hardbroom seems intent on proving Julie wrong, but interrupts herself. ‘Actually, Ms Hubble, that wouldn’t be unwelcome.’

Julie goes to put the kettle on, and then sits down on a chair in front of HB.

‘So.’ She almost whispers, aware of the two young ones still asleep in the other room. ‘To what do I owe the pleasure?’

Hardbroom sighs, and stares at her for a few seconds, Julie feels herself blush a little, strangely aware of still being in her pyjamas, old ratty shirt and all. She finds her shawl on the kitchen chair and wraps herself in it.

‘I have come with two objectives.’ begins the witch after the pause ‘The first is to apologise to you’ she looks pained by saying the words, but not as much as Julie might have imagined, knowing her.

‘I’m sorry but I’m confused. We haven’t seen each other in more than a week, whatever could you have to apologise for?’

‘It is precisely because of the week since we last saw each other, the time it has given me to reflect, and of the circumstances of our last interaction, Ms Hubble, that I realised I need to offer you my apologies. I am afraid my behaviour towards you during your stay at Cackle’s is indefensible, but it would mean the world to me if you were to forgive me.’

Julie is speechless. Used as she is to the teacher’s constant antagonising, she doesn’t know what to make of this repentant HB. However, Julie was never one to respond negatively to kindness, even this clumsy attempt at it, so she looks past her surprise to see the sincerity in her interlocutor’s eyes, and the nervous unease the wait for a reply is causing her. It would seem she really means this.

‘Apology accepted, Miss Hardbroom.’ Something changes in the witch as soon as she hears this, as if she was finally able to release an ancient tightness. Julie goes on: ‘Although I believe your biggest apology should be directed at the two other people living in this house.’

It looks like the words hit HB like a punch in the gut, but Julie doesn’t feel sorry. She is in a position to forgive the Deputy Headmistress’s treatment of herself, and will happily do so, but she has no right to absolve the pain she caused Mildred, let alone Indigo. For that, Miss Hardbroom have to face the teenagers directly. To the teacher’s credit, she absorbs the blow quite quickly and seems to accept her fate.

‘I understand that. Thank you for your honesty.’ It’s almost painful to see her this unusually contrite, to be honest. Julie suddenly feels an impulse to hug her, but stifles it, not wanting to wind up being magically zapped out of reality. Instead, she leaves the other woman space to formulate her thoughts and express them, with oh so big an effort. Meanwhile, she gets up to get the kettle, then pours two mugs of tea and hands Hecate one.

‘You see,’ the witch begins again, ‘It is thanks to your daughter, and her refusal to give up on Indigo, that I have come to these conclusions. I have realised my reaction to you becoming part of the school staff, coming from the outside world, was fuelled by the memory of what I had done to Indigo. In a way, my harshness towards your daughter comes from there as well. I thought by never breaking the rules again, and by holding my students to the same standard, I would avoid repeating the past. I now see I was mistaken.’

Hearing these words, Julie’s thoughts go to what her daughter has told her, about HB wilfully prolongating her confinement to the school’s grounds, about her refusing to reveal her identity to Indigo. She is hit with the realisation that, despite the teacher’s propensity for punishment, Miss Hardbroom has always dealt herself the harshest blow. She looks at the witch, whose position on the sofa means that, perhaps for the first time ever, her gaze is at precisely at the same height as Julie’s, sat higher on her chair. _She looks overwhelmed_. Julie decides it’s in everyone’s interest to cut the tension. She takes a sip of her tea and tries to change the subject.

‘You said you had two reasons from coming. I hope the second one is urgent enough to justify you showing up this early.’ She smiles her best smile, determined to let the other know that she’s just joking, not accusing her of anything.

‘Right.’ The witch is shaken out of her thoughts. ‘I am afraid the second topic in question is rather more delicate.’

What could be more delicate than their conversation up to this point, Julie doesn’t know. Nevertheless, she nods encouragingly.

‘It is about Indigo. It pains me to admit it but, though I had promised this to myself and to a friend, I may not have done enough to make amends.’ She shakes her head ever so gently. ‘Most importantly, I believe she is my responsibility, and as such I should be the one providing her with shelter. After all, if she is to grow up in the magical world, it would be better for her to be around someone who actually knows magic.’

_There we go._ Julie did think for a second this new and improved HB would spare her any foolishness, but apparently that couldn’t last more than fifteen minutes. For all of Miss Hardbroom’s apparent growth, she still seems to be lacking the depth to realise the most obvious solution might not always be the most emotionally sound. Julie turned around to place her half-empty mug on the table, and decided to let the witch have it.

‘Miss Hardbroom, what Indigo needs right now is unconditional love and support, not mere _shelter. _And she sure as bloody hell does not need someone treating her like a responsibility! I might not know magic, but I do know how to show affection and encouragement, thank you very much. I would also like to remind you that, while Indigo might be magical now, she did grow up ordinary, and, just like Mildred, does very much belong to both words. And I did actually take the time to educate myself on the one I didn’t know, unlike _some of us_!’

The witch’s face goes bright pink, and her eyes widen by at least three sizes. She puts her own mug down unceremoniously before replying. ‘Ms Hubble. Perhaps I have not made myself clear. This was not a request of permission. The decision has already been taken. I am merely notifying you that starting next Monday Indigo Moon will be living with me at Cackle’s.’

Julie stared at her silently for a few seconds, hoping to convey all of her disdain, but suspecting she might look like a disgruntled poodle. ‘If you think I am going to let that happen you have another thing coming! That girl has gone through too much to be uprooted once again just when she was starting to feel at home around me and Mildred!’

‘Mum? HB?’ Julie turns and sees two pairs of bare feet standing at the corridor door, and two pairs of worried eyes a few feet above them. She gets up and essentially leaps towards the girls to try to usher them away. _Hopefully they have not been listening for long enough to understand what is being discussed._

‘It’s alright, Mil. Why don’t you two go get dressed? We have great plans for today, and we wouldn’t want to arrive at the art gallery when it’s gotten too busy already, would we girls?’ She turns very pointedly to the woman sitting on the sofa. ‘My conversation with Miss Hardbroom was over anyway.’

‘Mum, we heard what you were saying.’ Julie feels her heart break. _Of course they did._ Her daughter was always far too perceptive for her own good.

‘I would like to have a say in this.’ Indigo speaks for the first time and it sounds definitive. She clearly won’t take no for an answer, and Julie feels her chest swell with pride.

‘Alright, love. Sit down, please, and we’ll discuss this.’ She watches as the girl takes what has now become her place at the table, and Mildred follows suit. From her place on the sofa, HB looks at the three of them, a unit. For an instant Julie feels sorry for her. Until she opens her mouth, that is.

‘There is nothing to be discussed. After a week of careful consideration, Miss Cackle and I have concluded it would be best for everyone for Indigo to move back to Cackle’s.’ Oh, Julie will show the old bat what’s best for everyone.

‘Okay. I will do it,’ Indy replies, matter-of-factly. There is not one person in the room that doesn’t look surprised to say the least.

‘Excuse me?’ Even Miss Hardbroom sounds shocked to have gotten her way so easily.

‘Indy, what?’ half-yells Mildred at the same time, looking rather alarmed.

‘I said I’ll do it. But on one condition. Millie and Julie come with me.’ If everyone looked surprised before, now you would think they were in some kind of slack jaw contest.

‘That will_ not_ be happening, Miss Moon!’ HB is the first to react.

‘Then I will _not_ be coming, _Miss Hardbroom._’ She says those last words like she’s planting a knife in HB, and the woman’s face at that makes it look like she succeeded.

‘Indy, darling, we can’t come live at Cackle’s for a whole month. I’ve got a job to go to, for starters… Maybe Millie could come visit every few days?’ She tries her best to find a compromise that will still make the girl feel like she’s in control of her situation. Lord knows she need that.

‘No. If you guys don’t come, neither do I. And Star, of course. Star has to come too.’ She seems determined to stand her ground.

‘Sweetheart, I would love to come with you, but I really can’t stop going to work.’

‘You wouldn’t have to.’ A whisper-like objection comes from the sofa.

‘Excuse me?’ Julie turns to HB.

‘I said you wouldn’t have to stop working.’ She seems to be gaining confidence in her proposition. ‘If you were willing to let me transfer you here every morning, and then back to the Academy after your shift, you wouldn’t have to give up work.’

Julie is at a loss for words. She genuinely can’t find any objection to that plan. As long as the girls are comfortable, she guesses she will have to go along with it. At least this way Indy won’t feel abandoned yet again.

‘Millie, what are your thoughts?’ She really wants to make sure this is what both girls want. Cackle’s is tied with some pretty awful memories after all.

‘Oh, I wouldn’t mind, Mum. As long as I don’t have to wear a uniform.’

‘That will not be necessary.’ Replies Hardbroom, as the only authority on school rules. ‘Not during the summer.’ Millie nods triumphantly.

‘And you’re sure this in what you want?’ Julie’s talking to Indy this time.

‘Yes. I’m sure.’

‘Fine, then.’ She turns to HB, who stares at her for half a second. Julie thinks the witch is probably convinced she’s doing a great job at hiding her smile. She’s not. At last, she replies.

‘Fine.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this! This is my very first time publishing fic, as I'm not a native speaker and I was always insecure about my English, so (gentle and constructive) feedback is appreciated. Anyway, I already have 9 chapters of this written, I only need to finish the last one, and I will be posting them throughout next month.
> 
> Infinite thanks to Libbie for reading and editing this, and for constantly putting up with my idiocy, and for sharing one braincell.


	2. Chapter 2

_“Sleep heavily and know that I am here with you. The past is gone, and cannot harm you anymore. And while the future is fast coming for you, it always flinches first, and settles in as the gentle present. This now, this us, we can cope with that. We can do this together you and I.” _

_-Welcome to Night Vale_

* * *

After Miss Hardbroom leaves, they do end up going to the art exhibition. After that, they spend the afternoon in the park with ice cream. They spend all Sunday packing. Then, on Monday evening, like clockwork, she finds Hecate Hardbroom standing on the balcony, broomstick in hand. They lock the house from the inside, leaving the nice lady on the other flat the keys to come water the plants once a week. They told her they are going on holiday to the seaside. She does not bat an eye when she comes in to get the keys and finds a dark and mysterious woman in a floor-length black gown standing awkwardly next to the luggage. Nor does she question the fact that the majority of the luggage is made up of wooden trunks.

Julie is still not sure what to make of this arrangement, but she is willing to try it out for the kids’ sake. She gestures HB to sit with her on the sofa while the girls are doing the last of their packing_. Or rather, unpacking._ Julie thought they were bringing far too much for only four weeks, so she sent them back to their room with the goal of cutting it to half. There is no way three broomsticks are going to carry six trunks.

The quiet room gets awkward fast. The sofa is narrow enough that she can feel HB breathing right next to her. She thanks God they’re not facing each other. _Having to do that uncomfortable dance people’s eyes do to avoid staring at each other in this kind of situations would truly bee too much._ She sighs and lets her upper body sag into the seat. The witch keeps breathing. They both stay silent for what feels like hours. It’s probably only a couple of minutes. Julie can hear the girls discuss whether or not they will need to bring Mildred’s watercolour set. Other than that, it’s awfully silent. Finally, someone speaks.

‘I… I suppose I should let you know how grateful I am to you for agreeing to this, Ms Hubble.’ Miss Hardbroom looks like every word is being dragged out of her, but she doesn’t sound insincere.

‘I did it for the girls,’ says Julie. ‘After all, there’s no real reason for me to decline, and if that’s truly what they want, it’s not my place to stop them.’ She knows she’s acting a little too proud, but she can’t help it.

‘I want you to know,’ speaks the witch, almost a whisper, ‘that I am not only doing this out of responsibility.’ She stops and takes a deep breath, ‘I am… Not the best at expressing myself and may have given you the wrong impression the other day. I fully intend to make amends to Indigo and provide her with everything she needs, not just shelter.’

‘I hope you realise what that entails, Miss Hardbroom, and I hope you are ready to commit to it.’ Julie speaks in all honesty. She thinks the situation requests it. She thinks Hecate Hardbroom deserves it.

‘Ms Hubble, need I remind you that I have been in charge of hundreds of children in the past twenty years.’ HB replies matter-of-factly, with no apparent resentment.

‘Yes, but have you truly taken care of them?’ she truly hopes her words will not cause conflict like they did the other day, so she chooses to shift the focus. She turns to face HB. ‘I know she seems to has forgiven you, but are you ready to look at each other in a different light? And I mean both of you. Do you think your relationship can withstand this?’

‘I do. I believe this is the only way either of us can go forward. Indigo matters infinitely for me, she has for 30 years, and nothing can change that. It’s high time I faced it.’ She does not avert Julie’s gaze once while she says this. For the first time, Julie can truly trust her displays of growth. It could be too early to say, but she thinks this could actually turn into something. And she’s glad she’s going to be there when it does. And if her and Millie’s presence can help HB and Indy on this journey even a little bit, she may finally be convinced this whole Summer At Cackle’s ordeal might actually be worth it. For now, it’s nice to see a first step being made. She nods once and smiles in acknowledgement of all this, and_… Oh._ For a second she realises how truly breathtaking Hecate Hardbroom looks, sitting there in the golden hour resplendence, lips upturned in the slightest, letting her eyes do all the smiling.

Once again, they are interrupted by the girls, this time looking much peppier than last Saturday, but leaning on that same door. Julie shakes herself out of her stupor, surely induced merely by the tiredness after a day of work and packing.

‘Alright everyone, we better get going if we want to get there before dark!’

* * *

Travelling by broom is the most reasonable choice, what with them having to carry luggage, and _someone _being terrified of the concept of cars. And Julie riding with HB is an equally obvious arrangement. The teacher certainly wasn’t going to allow any of the two relatively inexperienced flyers to carry a full-grown, living, human adult. So here they are. On Julie’s first ever broomstick flight. Five hundred feet above the ground. HB sitting gracefully side-saddle in front of her, and Julie trying her best to not fall off, while also avoiding holding onto the other woman’s waist. _Not that she finds herself entirely repulsed by the idea…_ But she thinks it best to not add a magical incineration hazard to the already present falling hazard.

Death-risk aside, the sensation of flying isn’t the worst, she will admit. It feels a bit like being on a rollercoaster, except with no loops or sudden descents. At least not when Hecate Hardbroom is the one doing the flying. It is actually very beautiful, seeing all the houses and fields under them, not as far away as they would be on a plane, at precisely the right distance to observe people’s existence, feeling a bit like some kind of supernatural being. And then, once you raise your gaze, the castle on top of the hill, against the last purple streaks of the late twilight sky. Julie takes it all in, the sights, the feeling of the wind on her face, the sounds of Millie and Indigo racing right below them, careless of the trunks they’re carrying, the faintest smell of jasmine that she suspects might come from the woman in front of her, whose care in riding the broom in the least traumatic way for a first-timer is not going unnoticed…

_No. Absolutely not. _

There will be no tender feelings for Hecate bloody Hardbroom just because the woman has suddenly decided to show some human decency for once. _Although_… Her profile does look striking when she turns to let Julie know they’re almost there. Julie tries to concentrate on the castle they’re heading towards instead.

* * *

The girls choose to not settle into Mildred’s usual room, insisting that it wouldn’t feel like being on holiday. Julie has an inkling there might be more to it, remembering that the room used to be Joy’s, but she doesn’t say anything. It hardly makes a difference to her anyway, as long as her Room is close enough to the girls’ to be able to help if they needed anything. The other night’s emergency has not been repeated since, but you never know. They choose to stay in a double room, having gotten used to being together. Miss Hardbroom very pragmatically suggests they all occupy the same wing, as to not have to roam the castle to find each other. Which is how Julie finds herself nestled between the girls’ room and HB’s. Even through the thick walls of Cackle’s, she can hear the two chattering away until past midnight. Long after they turn quiet, she can hear feet shuffling on the other side of her room.

* * *

Hecate cannot sleep tonight. At one point she took some sleeping potion and just lay in bed looking at the ceiling, and yet rest keeps evading her. So she gets up and start pacing the room, like she’s done so many nights before for the past 30 years, Morgana’s gaze following her from the windowsill. For a while she sits at her desk and tries to go over some preliminary notes on the potion she intended to research over summer, but it feels like her mind is vibrating somewhere to the left of it all. She gives up and goes back to the pacing, except this time she lets herself out of the room. She can count on one hand the times she’s ever done that before. During term she never lets herself be seen around the school at night, lest the students see her out of her teaching uniform. That is, unless it’s for her rounds, in which case she’ll still be dressed for the day, or there’s an emergency, in which case there’s little she can do about it. She very seldom walks the castle like this, though, just for the sake of walking. She remembers one night she did this, almost three decades ago, the night after she received news of her father’s death. Distant and absent though he was, he had still been her only family left, and when he was gone, she spent all night roaming the school, unsure what to do with herself. Another time, she did this one night when Ada was away. The Headmistress had been invited to Pippa Pentangle’s wedding, and Hecate’s room suddenly felt too small for her. Another, the night after the Big Freeze, she began to walk simply to feel her legs move, then started transferring around the school at random intervals, just so she could anchor herself to the knowledge that she still had magic.

But in general, she never left her bedroom after lights out. It always felt safer in her room, another confinement, inside her confinement to the Academy. It felt… not good, but right. The stillness of being enclosed in one place every night for three decades. The certainty that as long as she’s alone, she will not hurt anyone. _The knowledge that she could leave whenever she wanted, she just doesn’t deserve to._ She has not felt the night breeze on her face for many years. But tonight, for the first time, she lets herself.

Knowing the school is empty, Hecate is surprised when she finds someone else already occupying the spot on the rooftop she was thinking of taking. Then she sees who it is, and she is not surprised anymore. That had always been their favourite spot, after all.

She goes to sit next to Indigo, trying and failing not to startle her.

‘Hey! You almost made me fall!’ The child seems almost amused by the idea.

‘I’m sorry.’ is all Hecate can say.

The girl looks up at her. ‘It’s alright. I’m alright’

‘I didn’t mean about the falling.’ She stares into the distance, unable to face her childhood friend.

‘I know.’ She refuses to look away from Hecate. ‘I really am alright, you know? You don’t need to worry about me.’ Hecate can tell she feels like a burden, and hates herself because of it. But Hecate hating herself does nothing for Indigo. _It’s time she actually did something._ She takes a deep breath and turns to face her.

‘I don’t… I don’t _worry_. Not really. You’ve always been more than capable of survival. I just wish you didn’t have to worry about that. I wish I hadn’t put you in the position to not be able to look past that.’ It feels scary, saying these things out loud. Both of them look out at the sky.

‘Can I ask you something?’

‘Yes.’ She owes it to her.

‘Why didn’t you tell me you were Joy?’ Indigo was never one to take long to get to the point.

Hecate sighs and tries to be honest. ‘I was scared. I couldn’t face you being angry at me for what I did. I wasn’t ready to take responsibility.’

Indigo nods. She seems to be pondering a reaction. Hecate soon realises that honesty that omits the good parts is not honesty, just yet another form of self-inflicted punishment. ‘I was meaning to tell you. When you found out. I had just told Miss Cackle I would tell you.’

Indigo looks at her, puzzled. ‘But why?’

‘I had a talk with a very wise friend. I promised I would tell you.’ There’s much more to say, but for now she decides this is the essential truth.

‘Who did you promise?’ questions the girl, with the same curiosity that so often gets her in trouble. Not this time, though.

_Myself,_ she would want to reply._ You. _She concludes that would perhaps be a little too much honesty, and says: ‘Miss Bat.’

‘I knew it! I knew it was Miss Bat you were talking about!’ she says with childlike triumph, completely unfitting of the situation. _But entirely fitting of her age. _Hecate’s childhood best friend is really here, alive, un-petrified, _and __still a child. _Hecate wonders whether either of them can withstand the difference to how things were. She guesses they will have to.

‘I meant what I said that time. We can’t be friends. Not the way we were.’ It pains to admit it out loud, but it’s true.

‘Who says I’d want to be friends with someone like you, anyway?’ As Hecate hears this, her heart breaks. Then she feels a shoulder hit the side of her arm gently. Indigo is smiling. Hecate realises the joke and smiles a tiny smile back as she replies.

‘I am being serious Indigo.’

‘It’s just not fair, though!’

_No, it’s not fair_. Hecate knows it’s not fair. But she has to be the adult, and stop expecting life to be fair.

‘I am your teacher and your guardian. You are under my care. Things cannot be how they were. But we can still be there for each other.’

Once again, Indigo’s mind seems to be running ten steps ahead. ‘Wait a minute, my guardian?’

Hecate nods. ‘Miss Cackle has temporarily appointed me. Don’t worry, it is nothing official. Not yet. Not if you don’t want that. It was just to avoid a visit from the Grand Wizard’s staff over the summer. We had to send in a document, but it has to be reviewed every three months. It can be renewed or rescinded. Or made permanent.’ Hecate hopes the way she whispers the last bit won’t be noticed. ‘Julie Hubble’s name is on there as well. I hope you don’t mind that.’

Indigo sits still for a few seconds. ‘No, I don’t think I mind. I am glad you don’t despise me.’

All night, Hecate’s heart felt like it had been torn open, and this is definitely the last tear. ‘Indigo Moon, I need you to listen to me, and I need you to remember this. I do not, and have never despised you. I apologise for ever making you feel that.’

Indigo once again surprises her.

‘Can I call you Joy?’

‘I would prefer not.’

‘Okay.’ She stops for an instant and Hecate can practically see tiny cogs turning. ‘HB, then?’

Hecate decides she will concede something in exchange for Indigo agreeing to not call her by her first name. ‘Yes. But never in front of your schoolmates, once term starts.’

‘Yes!’ She feels a pair of arms around her hand is unsure what to do.

‘Alright, now! I seem to recall bedtime was at least four hours ago.’

‘Wow, you’ve gotten _so boring_…’ Indigo teases, but her eyelids are already closing.

With a gesture of her hand, she transfers the girl to her bed. She will check later that she’s asleep and alright. For now, she breathes in the fresh night air. She knows she and Indigo have a long way to go, but for now the summer breeze is singing of new beginnings. Not perfect ones, but beginnings nonetheless.

* * *

The next morning, Indigo is woken up by the sun in her eyes. _Strange._ She has a clear memory of Mildred closing the curtains last night. It’s almost like… someone enchanted them to open right after dawn. And she might have a suspicion about who that might be. She doesn’t mind. She didn’t get a lot of sleep at all, but she’d rather be awake than asleep in a nightmare. _Or petrified for decades._ She rubs her eyes.

‘Hey!’ She hears a whisper ‘Hey! Indy! Psst! Are you up?’

‘Yeah Mil.’

‘Where were you last night? I woke up to go pee and you weren’t there.’

‘Oh, you know. Just out.’ She omits where to. Doesn’t really know how to explain it.

Mildred looks a bit concerned. ‘Did you have another bad dream?’

‘Yes.’, she admits. She feels bad for it, like she’s calling too much attention to herself, but her and Mildred pinkie-swore loyalty to each other, so she figures if there is one person she can trust it’s her.

‘Oh Indy. I’m so sorry I wasn’t awake to help.’ She is truly sympathetic, but Indigo cannot help but feeling like a burden for it.

‘It’s fine. I got through it in the end.’

‘I know, I just wish you didn’t have to do it on your own. Can I?’ As she says this, Mildred gets up from her own bed and settles into Indigo’s, gently pushing her to the other side.

‘I wasn’t really on my own. HB found me on the roof.’

If this were a comic, Mildred’s eyes would look like exclamation points. ‘HB?’

‘Yeah… She kind of apologised for everything, which I thought was cool. Then we talked for a while.’

‘About what?’

‘About things being different, mainly.’ She takes a small pause. ‘I think I’m alright with that, as long as I still get to see her. I just really missed her a lot when I didn’t know she was right there.’ Mildred holds her hand above the covers while she continues. ‘I just. Sometimes I still miss Joy and I don’t know if I’m allowed to.’

‘It’s alright Indy, I know HB by now. I think she misses Joy too.’

Indigo squeezes Mildred’s hand a bit harder. She’s so lucky she has a friend who always knows the right thing to say.

‘I’m a bit hungry, do you think we can just go get breakfast?’ She says to Mildred as she sits upright, not letting go of her hand.

‘I’m not sure how things work when it’s not term. I guess we can just go ask Mum?’

They go ask Mu... _Julie_. They go ask _Julie._

* * *

As it turns out, Julie isn’t sure either, so they all wait in silence outside Miss Hardbroom’s door waiting for her to come out. They genuinely didn’t plan it as a prank, but Julie won’t lie and say she didn’t find it funny when HB jumped half her height at the sight of three unmoving figures outside her room in the very little light that gets to an ancient castle’s windowless corridor early in the morning. They all can’t hide their laughter. HB looks indignant, but when she turns around to check they’re following her to the kitchens, Julie spies a secret smile on her lips.

They avoid having to open the Dining Hall, which has been closed for the summer, the tables covered with white sheets, by eating around one of the wooden tables in the kitchens. Julie tries to make pancakes for the children, and she surprisingly doesn’t burn even one. Knowing her track record, she suspects it has less to do with a sudden increase of abilities on her part, and more to do with how she heard Miss Hardbroom mumble a rhyming phrase under her breath while trying to mask her spell-casting hand gesture as trying to chase away a mosquito. HB doesn’t mention it, so neither does Julie. She would hate to confirm Esteemed Code Expert Hecate Hardbroom uses magic for such frivolous aims as breakfast confectioneries.

The witch in question refuses her portion of pancakes when she’s offered. Normally, Julie wouldn’t complain about having more for herself, but she genuinely worries about the woman’s food intake. Not even witches can survive a whole day on tea alone. So, under the guise of wanting the children to eat something slightly healthier, she announces they will not get up from the table until they’ve all eaten some fruit and ‘you don’t want to give a bad example, do you, Miss Hardbroom?’. The witch rolls her eyes and magically produces four giant grapefruits from the school’s garden. With a flick of her wrist, they are peeled and cut. The girls curl their nose at the sour taste after the sugary pancakes, and the older demographic at the table looks like eating a citrus slice is pure torture, but all in all, Julie would call this a victory.

* * *

After breakfast HB transfers Julie to the apartment, so that she can get her things and go work. At five she gets off work, she walks home, and thankfully gets home just in time for 5.30, when HB is supposed to transfer her back, avoiding public disappearances. Instead of transferring her to whichever room she’s in, the deputy headmistress leaves her right at the entrance of the school grounds. She half-expects to find the Academy destroyed in some kind of magic disaster involving the girls, Hecate Hardbroom, or, God forbid, both. Instead, after looking for a good few minutes, she finds the girls on a makeshift hammock made out of a bedsheet they magicked to two trees near the witchball field. They are both laying sideways on it, feet in the air and head upside down, idly swinging it side to side. Tabby has found his spot on Mildred’s belly, while Star watches them from the ground, transfixed by the movement of the sheet.

‘Mum!’

‘Thank God you’re back! We’re _so bored_!’

_Oh Lord._ ‘What do you mean you’re so bored?’

Mildred stops the hammock and gets off of it, Indy stays upside down on the now still contraption.

‘We just don’t know what to do with no one around! The internet won’t work on the school’s grounds, and Maud and Enid are apparently too busy on holiday with their parents to reply on their maglets, and all maglet games have been forbidden after last term, and we just don’t know what to do…’

Indigo turns to lay on her belly, still on the hammock, but facing Julie while at least making an attempt to not be at the mercy of gravity. ‘We even unpacked everything in our trunks and put it away tidily! That’s how bored we are!’

Julie rolls her eyes at the mundane teenage-ness of it all, but a small part of her is glad the girl’s normality is now boring_. Boring is safe._ Although maybe _these_ levels of bored are not quite necessary. ‘Has it occurred to you girls that maybe you wouldn’t be as bored if you got started on your homework? We’re already one week into the holidays and I haven’t yet seen either of you practice a spell or read a book.’

‘But Mum! We still have so long to do our homework!’

Mildred’s whining is echoed by Indigo’s. ‘We want to do something fun!’

‘Okay then, how about instead of thinking of maglet games you play some proper, actual games? You’re literally in a witchball field!’ _For Christ’s sake_, she adds in her mind, with the typical frustration of a parent of teenagers. ‘Not now, though. Tomorrow. Now go see what’s in the pantry that we can use to cook, then go wait for me in the kitchen. You’re helping me make dinner tonight!’

‘Yes!’ Indigo gets up, a little bit of life apparently regained with the perspective of something, anything, to do. When she turns around, Mildred is already halfway to the building, so she runs her fastest to catch up.

‘And don’t you two think you’re off the hook about the homework!’

The girls seem to not hear Julie’s parting shout. Or maybe they ignore it. Either way, this is not the last steering of young minds towards homework she will have to do, that’s for sure. She picks up the bedsheet the girls left on the ground after their incantation expired, and heads inside with it.

* * *

Hecate hears a knock on her lab’s door. She hums in response, too concentrated on her research to articulate permission to enter. What does make her lift her eyes from her cauldron is the sight of Julie Hubble, eyes slightly tired after a long day of work, but still with a big smile on her face, and curly hair escaping her earlier attempt at an updo left and right, cheeks red after walking up the castle’s numerous flights of stairs, holding what looks like a large piece of white cotton fabric for goodness knows what reason. Hecate thinks she’s never seen her look prettier.

‘Tea’s ready in about half an hour if you’d like.’

Hecate musters her best attempt at a smile. ‘Thank you.’

Julie nods and leaves, unable to keep the door from slamming with her occupied hands. Hecate sighs at the woman’s lack of grace, but she’s still smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading another chapter! as you may have guessed, i decided holidays at cackle's work slightly differently than what i know about the british school system (eg: slightly longer, homework, etc). there is an in-universe explaination for this which will be revealed in one of the future chapters, but i just wanted to make sure it's clear from the get-go. 
> 
> thanks again to libbie whomst i love a lot


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello lads!  
as you can see, i'm not exactly following a strict upload schedule (catch me posting on my birthday), at least not til ive properly finished the last chapter, but ill make sure the time between uploads is never too long.
> 
> anyway, yes, there will be pretentious hanging quotes at the beginning of each chapter, and yes, half of them will be mary oliver cause i love her and there's nothing you can do to stop me.

_"Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happened better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb._”

-Mary Oliver, Don’t Hesitate

* * *

They settle into a sluggish summer routine, the British weather getting too damp and weirdly hot to do anything out of the necessary. Julie gets transferred home, walks to work, teaches a few classes, walks home, and then gets transferred back to the castle in the late afternoon. Sometimes, she manages to get home earlier, if her classes’ participants are feeling worn out. She knows she should worry about earning less, but she truly cannot be bothered. Besides, her little family’s expenses have been much less since Mildred started living (And eating. Boy, does the girl eat.) at Cackle’s for free, so she’s been able to save quite a bit.

The girls spend most days finding more and more creative ways to loaf about. In a way, they have an almost proactive approach to their laziness. Still no sign of any attempt at homework, of course. They’re almost two weeks into their holiday, but do they appear to mind in the least? _Of course not._ Julie will have to think of something to do about that.

Miss Hardbroom, on the other hand, mostly keeps to herself. For someone who made such a fuss about having Indigo stay with her, she doesn’t seem to spend a lot of time with the girl, or with Mildred for that matter, unless Julie is with them. She spends all the time Julie’s at work cooped up in her lab. Julie’s sure she has more than enough reason for it, what with her _Very Important Potions Research_ and whatnot, but it does seem a bit ridiculous. Then again, when has the woman ever been anything but ridiculous.

* * *

What Julie does not know is that Hecate and Indigo’s evening on the roof turns into a two-time thing, and then that turns into an unspoken almost-quotidian habit. They meet after dark, not having previously agreed on a time, simply showing up when they feel like they need it. As it turns out, that is almost every night. One night, Hecate shows up and Indigo isn’t there, and as she sits on her own, she realises the opposite could happens just as easily, so the next day she promptly places an incantation to alert her when someone leaves the girls’ room at night.

They don’t usually talk much, on the roof. They just sit in silence and look at the night sky, or at the city lights in the distance. One time, Indigo falls asleep on Hecate’s shoulder. The older witch doesn’t wake her up, she simply transfers both of them to be sitting on the edge of the girl’s bed, then lays her down and tucks her in. As she leaves, in the clear night’s moonlight, she notices Indigo’s bed had already been occupied by another small body, tucked all the way on the other side of it, against a wall. Her heart aches, but she isn’t sure that’s a bad thing.

* * *

On the morning of the Hubbles’ and Indigo’s first Saturday there, when the elder Hubble stops Hecate on her way to her laboratory and proposes they celebrate by eating dinner outside, Hecate doesn’t know what to say. To be quite frank, she feels a bit put on the spot – she reacts to the suggestion with a resounding ‘no’. She cannot know what sort of chaos would unleash if she started agreeing to any and every one of the woman’s preposterous ideas, particularly when it comes to the girls, so she chooses the safer option.

‘But it’s so nice outside, and the days are so long, it seems like such a waste to eat in a dark kitchen half-underground!’

‘Absolutely not, Ms Hubble!’ She resumes walking, but Julie Hubble is undeterred, and simply starts following her.

‘But why?’ Maybe it is all the time she spends with her daughter and Indigo, but the woman truly sounds like a child.

‘Because…’ Hecate really doesn’t have much of a reason other than… _well, she doesn’t want to._ She can feel her cheeks flaring up, and her eyes widening, and she just can’t help it. ‘…because eating outside only serves to attract all kinds of… small… creatures…’ she finally replies with disgust.

‘Oh, come on now! Are you telling me there’s no midge-repelling spell, Miss Witch?’ Miss Hubble’s tone is joking and Hecate finds her flimsy excuse easily busted.

She decides the grown-up thing to do would probably be admitting her true motive. Although it does feel a little bit like letting Julie Hubble win this battle, she doesn’t find she minds that much. ‘Very well... I suppose it’s just… I am not used to the idea and it doesn’t appeal to me.’

The other woman’s jesting smile turns into a surprised one. ‘Oh. Well, how about a compromise? We eat the main course outside, and then, if you really cannot stand it, we go inside for pudding? The girls were really excited about this, but if we bribe them with ice-cream, they won’t complain.’

Hecate collects her thoughts. She examines them, her anxiety relating to new things, as well as Indigo and Mildred apparently wanting this very much. ‘I presume that would not be the most unpleasant thing,’, she concludes.

* * *

As her day comes to an end, Hecate puts her work away, and heads to the kitchen, where she’s agreed to meet Ms Hubble to transfer the table outside. The woman is looking quite impatient when she greets her.

‘Everything’s on the table already, we just need to transfer it wherever the girls chose to eat.’

Hecate performs a locator spell on Indigo and Mildred, then transfers the table. Then, holds out her arm for Julie Hubble to hold onto. The other woman does so, but gives her a puzzled look.

‘To make transferring both of us less energy-consuming, Ms Hubble.’ Hecate explains.

Julie Hubble looks up to her, moving only her eyes and keeping her head still. ‘You can call me Julie, you know? Now that we live together.’

Hecate feels her cheeks redden once more. This seems to have become a talent of Ms Hub… _Julie_’s. She tries the name out in a half-whisper. ‘Julie.’ The woman in question smiles at her. ‘Very well. Then I suppose you could call me Hecate.’

Julie leans slightly on their interlinked arms, and replies, ‘Let’s go, then, Hecate.’

Hecate transfers them.

* * *

By the time Mum and HB materialise in the meadow at the limits of the forest, Mildred has been lying there with Indy for hours. At this point, even an entire table magically appearing next to them, food laid out and all, doesn’t move them. They’ve been pointing at funny-looking clouds almost all afternoon, not exactly bored, just very, very placid. Mum, being home from work for the weekend, did enlist them to help make dinner, but, with the three of them, that didn’t occupy much time, and they ended up finishing much too early. Both of them are in a tacit agreement to not mention homework.

After HB teaches both of them an insect-repelling spell, they sit down to eat. For a main course, they made pasta, which her and Indy decorated with a variety of toppings of their choice, from courgettes that Mum cut up super thin, to a kind of flower they found in the courtyard, which Mildred remembers reading in her potions book is edible. Of course, the latter doesn’t escape HB.

Before they can start eating, the teacher clears her throat and announces, ‘I would like to thank you all for preparing this meal.’

This is actually only the second dinner the two of them cook with Mum, as, after their first day, there seemed to have been an unspoken arrangement that Mum would take care of breakfast, but find dinner ready when she came back from work. Mildred doesn’t know why, but she never imagined HB to be a good cook, but each night she was proven wrong. She now sees how that was bound to happen. Potions is nothing but a kind of magical cooking after all. The curious fact, though, is that, unlike Mum, they never actually get to see HB cook. The food is always ready once they are called down for tea, and the door locked if they try to get in before that.

While Mildred is lost in pondering why that might be, she hears, as if in the distance, Mum reassuring HB that there’s nothing to thank them for, and that, if anything, this is them thanking her for letting them eat outside. She is only brought back to reality when she becomes aware that one of her teacher’s extremely rare looks of approval is being directed at her. ‘I see you retained the information on the violet’s edibility and culinary properties, Mildred. Well done.’ _Yes!_

Mildred basks in the praise, while Indigo specifies that, thanks to Millie, she’s learnt all about it while they were preparing the food, clearly wanting to support Mildred by showing just how precise her knowledge of the topic was. ‘She remembered it from the Flowers paragraph in the Basic Ingredients section of our Potions book, even though that’s first year curriculum!’, her friend finishes.

As soon as Indigo says that, and Mums head quickly turns, Mildred knows that they’ve just dug themselves a hole.

‘That’s strange,’ Mum states, ‘Because I haven’t seen you two open a single book in two weeks…’ Mildred knows she’s not really mad, simply gently teasing them in the hopes of getting them to do homework, but she is still a bit embarrassed about it. She sends a furtive look to Indy, whose gaze is down, looking as perturbed as Mildred.

‘It’s just…’ Mildred starts to explain herself, but doesn’t really find the words.

‘It’s not Millie’s fault, Julie.’ Indigo intervenes. ‘It’s mine. I… can’t seem to get myself to look at magic homework.’

Millie _has to_ get her friend out of this.

‘No, no, it’s mine! I should have helped Indy more, but I didn’t want her to feel forced…’

‘No, really, it was me,’ her friend repeats. ‘I made Millie feel bed when she tried to propose doing our homework, how could she help me wh…’

‘Alright, you two. It really doesn’t matter whose fault it is.’ At first, Mildred thinks it might have been Mum interrupting, but it was actually HB. ‘The fact stands that you need to keep your magic exercised if you wish to do well next year. I need you both to remember that you are going to be the only example for the new ordinary-born girls, and you should set a good one. Is that clear?’

‘Yes, Miss Hardbroom.’ They reply almost in unison, reacting to her using her Potions Mistress voice by temporarily regressing to using her Potions Mistress name, rather than the nickname they’ve been getting so used to. She doesn’t stay Miss Hardbroom for long, though.

When she speaks next, her voice is HB’s again. ‘As for needing help, I will see you both in my laboratory every weekday starting next Monday, as soon as you mother has transferred to work. We will go over your homework together’.

‘Thank you so much.’ Indigo reacts sincerely. Millie nods along.

Mum looks on with a proud, if slightly surprised, stare. It doesn’t seem she was expecting HB to react this way.

* * *

This is not as terrible as Hecate thought. Yes, the sun is a bit too warm and bright for her liking, even as it starts to set, but the golden tinge everything it hits takes is not altogether unpleasant. The meadow, the light breeze moving the leaves in the forest, the Academy glowing in the background, even the colours of the vegetables in the lovingly made food against the dark wood of the table, it is all very beautiful, and if there is one thing Hecate has always had an eye for it is aesthetics.

She doesn’t even hate spending time in the company of the other people sitting at the table. After the homework question is settled, the conversation moves onto lighter topics, namely Julie asking the girls how they spent their day, and the two getting into a lively but surprisingly civilised discussion on whether the small creature they had managed to trap in a glass jar was a bug or an insect. Hecate even feels comfortable offering her professional opinion, as someone who had had to become quite acquainted with entomology during the early years of her research on potions ingredients. She concludes that the animal is, in fact, an arachnid, and therefore neither an insect nor a bug.

Once they are done with the pasta, Julie produces a caprese salad from under a towel on the less-populated side of the table to her right, across from Hecate. She explains that she didn’t know whether the pasta would be enough for four, so she made a quick second course once the girls left the kitchen. As it turns out, she is right: the two youngest and hungriest of mouths at the table take a particularly enthusiastic approach to the caprese. As for herself, Hecate does find it quite charming that Julie always thinks of every eventuality. The more she gets to know the woman, the more apparent it becomes how caring a parent she is.

The girls become absorbed in their own secret discussion on goodness knows what, and as Julie turns to face her, she catches Hecate staring. Of course, she averts her gaze immediately, hoping the other woman didn’t notice, or at least that she can play it off as something rather inconspicuous. Maybe in the process she looks away for a bit too long. She feels a gentle kick under the table and looks up to meet a smile, even more radiant than usual in the golden evening light.

‘Hello? Earth to Hecate?’ Well, that sure is a weird combination of words…

‘Excuse me?’

‘I said: Earth to Hecate.’

‘What is that?’ The more she hears this, the more she is confused.

‘Oh, it’s a thing they say to astronauts… Are you… Are witches not familiar with space travel?’ Now Julie is the one looking perturbed.

‘Oh, that explains it. We do know about space travel, except the ordinary have come to it slightly later then us. You see, the first witch landed on the moon in 1879, and magical exploration of extra-terrestrial territories has continued since then. So you can imagine of how little interest your kind’s space age was to mine.’

Julie looks at her with fascination, and ends up asking her all kinds of questions on the topic. As she speaks, she explains the way space travel works for ordinary people, and Hecate discovers herself captivated by how they might have achieved all that with no magic. They sit there for what feels like ages, and Hecate finds the conversation more intellectually stimulating than any she’s had with a magical person in years.

When the girls start yawning and ask for pudding before bed, Julie asks Hecate to transfer the raspberry ice cream from the kitchen. Once dessert is eaten, Hecate realises she hasn’t even considered holding Julie to her promise and asking to go back inside for it. _No, this really was not as terrible as Hecate thought._

* * *

On Monday, Indigo and Millie agree to wake up half an hour earlier than strictly necessary, each nervous about disappointing HB by arriving late to their first tutoring session, but unwilling to admit it out loud. Indigo isn’t fussed about it, but she knows Mildred takes ages to wake up. Besides, Indigo has recently discovered she enjoys taking her time getting ready, now that she has the space for it, so all in all it was not a bad idea to get up early. When they go down to breakfast they find Julie, and two plates of lovingly cut-up fruit, and bowls ready to be filled, but no sign of HB. When asked where she is, Julie shrugs.

‘I better go and find her while you girls eat, if I don’t want to be late for work.’ She says, and leaves them alone.

‘Are you alright?’ Mildred asks her with her mouth full of cereal.

‘Mhm.’

‘You’re being awfully silent for someone who is.’ She proceeds to take another spoon to her mouth. Indigo just keeps stirring her own cereal around aimlessly.

‘No, no, I really am alright.’ Indigo reassures her. ‘I’m just… nervous. Excited, too.’ _That isn’t all, though._ ‘Happy to spend more time with HB,’ she adds in a whisper.

‘Oof. That sounds like a lot.’ Her friend smiles at her over her mug of tea, ‘No wonder you were so quiet!’ She adds in her usual chipper tone.

* * *

When they arrive to the Potions classroom, it is empty. As soon as they settle into their usual stations, HB materialises in the middle of the room.

‘Good morning, girls, please do move your supplies to the main desk, it is ridiculous for us to be so far apart when the rest of the class isn’t here.’ She declares in a tone that Mildred is not used to hearing in this room.

‘Yes, Miss Hardbroom,’ Mildred replies, as she and Indy start putting their utensils in their cauldrons in order to to move them more easily.

‘That will not be necessary, there’s no need to be quite so formal,’ the older witch corrects her. Mildred is confused, and shares a look with an equally lost Indigo. HB looks up from the papers she has been moving from her desk to look at her, looking quite shy, ‘The name, I mean,’ she clarifies, ‘You do not have to call me Miss Hardbroom if you don’t want to.’

After that, HB regains her decisive ways: ‘Now, let’s get on with this. What seems to be the problem with your homework?’

* * *

They spend an hour on advanced potion-stirring techniques, and then they move on to their Spell Science readings, which, Hecate must admit, even she finds challenging. Never underestimate Algernon’s innate ability to always chose the most boring possible academic texts. When lunchtime comes, they all move down to the kitchens, and Hecate lets the two sit with her while she cooks soup. She never had before, unwilling to show herself doing what she considers to be such a lesser form of concocting than potions. _After all, would be unpractical to send them away only to call them back in less than an hour. As_ it turns out, she finds herself quite entertained by the company, and realises the possible educational uses of this. For example, the soup comes in handy to demonstrate all the wrong ways to stir a potion she had mentioned during the morning, without the risks of doing so with actual potions.

When, after lunch, Mildred and Indigo take their dog out to play, Hecate retires back to her laboratory to return to the research she put off this morning in favour of the tutoring. She has a newfound gratitude for the silence, now that she’s alone, but the work does feel slightly more boring than it did yesterday.

* * *

As far as Julie knows, the original arrangement was that the girls would spend two hours each morning looking over their homework. Really, they wouldn’t even need that much, but apparently HB is dead set on adding ‘supplementary exercises’ to their workload, to ensure they start the new schoolyear on the right foot. Still, though, if math isn’t tricking Julie, two hours, starting 10am, should not still be going on until Julie comes back from work. When, at the end of the week, she asks Mildred about it, she explains that they were ‘still bored in the afternoons’ and as such ‘offered to help HB with her work.’

Her daughter raves while sat on Julie’s bed, waiting for Indigo to come back from the shower.

‘She’s studying the differences between the effects of each type of snails and slugs’s slimes on different kinds of potions! Isn’t that the coolest, Mum?’

Julie must admit, for all her interest in magic, she struggles to see how snails can be ‘the coolest’ to a pair of teenagers, but won’t let it affect her child’s enthusiasm. ‘Sounds amazing, Millie, love,’ she nods as she puts her magically-dried laundry away.

‘Oh! Oh! And HB made up this game where she assigns us each a plant ingredient, and the first to come back with it gains a point! And if you bring back the wrong one, you lose two points! Indy’s winning right now, but it’s alright, it’s still fun.’ She punctuates her sentence with a shrug.

‘Oh, I’m sure you’ll have chances to get points too, sweetie.’ Julie replies. Well, that explains the three times this week she has found the two friends in the garden, scouring the herbs, or up a tree, or elbow-deep in the dirt. It does sound slightly like a way for Hecate to avoid walking to the garden to get her own stuff, but she supposes she doesn’t mind, as long as the girls get something out of it as well. And they do get a lot out of it. They get a fun activity to do, an excuse to spend time outside, and a learning opportunity. Actually, Julie concludes, this might be less of a selfish endeavour on Hecate’s side than she initially thought.

‘Oh, and, Mum!’ the girl continues, ‘HB let me collect the mucus of one of the snails from her lab yesterday! With the proper scientific instruments and everything! And Indy captured a slug yesterday in the garden, which turned out to be the last variety HB was looking for and could not seem to find anywhere!! But we did without even trying!’

_Alright, now with this talk of mucus Mildred’s really lost her._ She looks so proud of herself as she recounts it all. This does truly sound like Hecate is doing the girls a lot of good. She will have to thank her.

* * *

That night, right when the girls are in bed, Julie decides to take the opportunity to thank Hecate for the tutoring thing. She only thinks of it after she’s changed into her pyjamas, and, for a second, she wonders whether she should do this another time, when she’s more presentable. She reaches the conclusion that the witch has seen her like this – and in worse states – before, so she might as well do it now.

She slides out of her own room as quietly as she can manage, and knocks on the door next to hers. In the silence of the castle at night, she hears feet moving towards her, and then the door opens. In front of her is Hecate Hardbroom in a dark dressing gown, her face bare and her hair released from its usual bun and instead cascading along her body to reach her waist. Julie forgets to breathe for a good second there.

‘Did something happen?’ the witch asks apprehensively.

‘Oh, God, no, don’t worry’ Julie responds in a whisper that’s doubly quiet, to avoid being heard and to signal to HB to do the same, ‘I’m sorry I made you think that. I just wanted a word.’

‘Do come in, then.’ Hecate appears to have gotten her message, and her voice is as hushed as Julie’s now. She opens the door more widely, to allow Julie to walk past her, then shuts it behind them with care. Once it’s closed, and with her own room to act as a buffer for the sound to not get to the girls’, Julie speaks again.

‘I’m so sorry to disturb so late. I usually hear you move around until late, so I figured I wouldn’t be waking you. I apologise if I did.’

‘You did not, I was awake. Please take a seat if you’d like.’

As Hecate moves the seat at her desk for her to sit on, Julie looks around the room for the first time. It does not at all look like Julie had imagined. It is spacious, yes, like all the rooms on that hall, meant for teachers, are, but that’s about the extent of what she has guessed right. She had pictured a heavy atmosphere, possibly created by furniture of rich fabrics and dark woods, and a room stacked with all kinds of books and magical objects. Instead, the most prominent feature of the room is a wide, tall window, right above the desk Julie’s sitting next to, showing the light blue of the sky near the horizon, where the sun has just finished setting, fading into a deeper, more purple-ish blue as Julie looks up, to the few stars that are beginning to appear.

There are not many objects at all, or furniture. Apart from the chair and desk, there is one single shelf, occupied by what cannot be more than twenty books, which appears to have a few bundles of dried flowers hanging from it, mainly lavender, which spreads its scent to the entire space. Next to it is a light wooden door, presumably leading to the bathroom. The longer side of the room, opposite the window, is occupied by a large but unassuming bed. Not at all the pretentious canopied situation Julie had imagined, it is covered in soft and clean white cotton sheets. Apart from that, a small bedside table, a small closet and a light green carpet covering most of the floor. Nothing more. There is a pair of glasses on the bedside table that Julie would give anything to see Hecate wear.

‘Hello? Earth to Julie?’ she Hecate call from where she is perched very properly on top of her bed, her cat right next to her. Judging by her grin, she is clearly very proud of her reference to the other night.

Julie shakes herself out of her observations and smiles back.

‘Yes, sorry. I was just admiring what a nice space you have here.’

‘Thank you. I spent a lot of my life in here, so over time I started to only keep the things I truly cared about.’ Hecate explains. It is nice to hear her offer this kind of information unprompted, Julie doesn’t know if she would have a couple of weeks ago.

‘Well, I think it looks lovely.’

‘Thank you very much.’ She blushes ever so slightly, ‘May I ask why you knocked?’

‘Ah, yes. Sorry. I just wanted to tell you how grateful I am for the time you’re dedicating to the girls’ education, that’s all.’ She holds Hecate’s gaze as she says this, determined to let her know she is sincere.

As she replies, the witch averts her eyes.

‘I… Well, I did demand Indigo come live with me, and indirectly drag you and Mildred here, so I don’t feel I deserve praise for simply spending time with them.’

Julie chuckles as she passes her hand through her hair. ‘True. But you are still teaching them valuable knowledge which I could never give them, so, for that, I am thankful.’

Hecate finally looks at her.

‘Well, I could say the same of you, so if you are grateful to me, then let me say how grateful I am for your presence here.’

This time, it is Julie who blushes, and she tucks her knee under her chin and hugs her leg in. If Hecate is bothered by her putting her bare foot on her chair she doesn’t say, she simply keeps holding her gaze in silence. Julie tries to diffuse the situation. ‘Well, then I am thankful for you and you are thankful for me, and we are here in an eternal circle of gratitude.’ Hecate gives a breathy laugh through her nose, which, knowing the woman, must be the equivalent of any other person openly guffawing.

‘I am enjoying my time here, truly,’ adds Julie, ‘And so are the girls clearly.’

Hecate nods. ‘I am happy to hear that.’

‘Are they really doing as good as they tell me?’ Julie asks, out of curiosity.

‘Well,’ begins Hecate, ‘I am not aware of precisely what they are telling you, but I would say they are doing fine, yes. They both have a natural curiosity, which is essential to learning magic.’ She stops for a second, and then adds, ‘And also to causing chaos, but we know that already.’

Julie raises an eyebrow. _This new, joking tone is nice._

‘What?’ reacts Hecate, ‘Well, your daughter _did_ shatter a jar containing the mucus of a rare left-coiling snail.’ Her look is scandalised in an exaggerated, near-comical way. Julie cannot help but laugh, which only exacerbates the look.

‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ says Julie, half-sarcastic, half-genuine, ‘On the other hand, I am told they did help find the last variety of snail you were looking for.’

‘Slug,’ retorts Hecate, unwilling to let her win this. ‘And it wasn’t exactly the last.’

‘It wasn’t?’ asks Julie.

‘Well it is. The last of the land and freshwater creatures I was looking for. Now begins the section of my research that looks at sea gastropods.’

Julie’s tired head perks up at the mention of the sea.

‘And when were you thinking of collecting those?’

‘Oh, as soon as possible. I was thinking this coming Sunday, if you were willing to stay here with Indigo and Mildred.’

It seems like it is Julie’s turn to be fake-scandalised. ‘Excuse me! Were you planning to go on a day to the beach without us, Miss Hecate Hardbroom?’

Hecate tries to explain. ‘It’s not a day at the beach! It is a day of scientific collection and examinat…’

‘Absolutely not” Julie interrupts her, ‘You cannot go to the seaside in the middle of the summer holidays and leave us here! I will not under any circumstance stand for this! You are taking us with you or you are not going at all!’

It is a done deal. They are going to the beach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aw yeah babey next chapter we're going aeroplane emoji the seaside!!
> 
> once again, thanks libbie, ily a lot, and thanks everyone, please be gentle with your feedback and i'll love you forever for it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the longer wait for this new chapter, and thank you to everyone that left kind reviews! as promised, here are some beach shenanigans.

_“The sea_

_no longer torments me; the self_

_I wished to be is the self I am.”_

-Louise Glück, Otis

* * *

As it turns out, that Sunday it rains, so they cannot go to the seaside like Julie promised. It keeps raining the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that. When Indigo wakes up next Thursday and the sun is shining, no sign of any clouds, she barely can contain her joy. She checks if Mildred is awake, but she is not, and, unsure what to do, she gets out of her room. She knocks on Julie’s door, and hugs her as soon as she opens the door.

‘The sun is out! The sun is out!’ she says, letting go of Julie and practically leaping toward the window to open the curtain.

‘Darling it’s 6:30…’ replies Julie, apparently lacking Indigo’s enthusiasm, rubbing her eyes.

Indy turns to her.

‘But Julie, the sun is out! Doesn’t that mean we can go to the beach today?’

Julie looks out the window, but remains unconvinced.

‘I don’t know, sweetie, we’re going to have to ask HB if it’s safe to fly after yesterday’s storm.’

‘Oh please,’ she begs, ‘I’ve never been to the beach before!’

Julie, who’s extracting a soft-looking cardigan from under a pile of clothes on her chair, to put over her pyjamas, looks at her, raising an eyebrow.

‘You’ve never been?’

‘No…’ Indigo feels a bit silly admitting it, and looks down to her bare feet.

‘Oh, sweetheart…’

‘It’s just… when I was little my aunt and uncle never had the money, and then, with everything that happened…’

Julie puts a comforting hand on her shoulder.

‘I’ll tell you what, I’m going to ask HB right now, you wait for me here, alright?’

Indigo nods. Julie sits her on the bed and leaves.

It feels like she’s away for an eternity. Indigo starts tapping her foot, then counts all of the bricks in the wall, then lays her back down on the bed and starts playing with her hair.

She wonders why it’s taking so long. It seems like it would be a question that warranted a pretty straight-forward answer. _Then, again, this is Julie and HB._ Indigo doesn’t think in the past three weeks she’s ever seen the two coming to straightforward answers without endless negotiation.

Finally, Indigo hears the door open. Her torso springs to sit upright, and she sees Julie smiling at her.

‘She said we can go today?’ Indigo asks impatiently.

Julie smiles even wider.

‘Go wake Millie up, and pack your things for the day!’

* * *

They try to leave pretty early, as it takes a while to fly to the beach where Hecate has read the highest variety of snails can be found. This is her first time conducting research outside the grounds of Cackle’s. First time going anywhere, really, not counting her trips to the Hubble flat, which weren’t exactly spent exploring. So, this should probably feel like a more solemn moment. Her longest flight in almost forty years. As it is, it feels far too chaotic to be solemn. Hecate isn’t sure she minds._ Normality is better than solemnity._

Still, if she was flying on her own, she would probably be going double this speed, just to feel the air rush past her. Considering she has two young flyers following her and a passenger on her own broom, she thinks it best to reduce her pace. Especially since said passenger just asked if she can hold onto her waist, and Hecate, caught unawares and brain short-circuiting, said yes. And now she doesn’t know if she is quite able to exhibit her renowned broomstick control.

When they land on a little secluded cove, impossible to reach from the land, Hecate is relieved that the contact stops. And yet, she cannot explain why this relief feels so much like disappointment. She tries to ignore it, and concentrates on setting up her portable ingredient-collecting station, while the girls free Star and Tabby from their backpacks. Once she finishes and turns her gaze up, it is met with the sight of Julie Hubble, standing near the teal towel she laid on the ground, removing her sundress to reveal a yellow bikini. Hecate’s face feels so warm when the woman looks up to her and waves, a hand shielding her eyes from the sun. _Must be the summer heat._

For some reason, the girls look mortified when they have to wear the swimsuits Hecate has procured back at the Academy. The ones Julie had taken back from the flat, that had belonged to Mildred last year, don’t fit either one of them, after their recent growth spurts. The costumes from Cackle's are in a black and grey striped pattern, and almost reach the girls’ elbows and knees. They are, in Hecate’s opinion, perfectly appropriate for children their age to wear at the beach, if, admittedly, a bit outdated. When Julie sees them, she laughs her silvery laugh, and tries to reassure them that ‘at least there’s no one here to see you’. They don’t seem particularly reassured.

Hecate, on her part, is dressed for a day of scientific work, not one of sunburns and inanity, and, as such, she limits herself to a black cotton blouse and a dark grey linen calf-length skirt, wearing her hair in a low plait to allow her to sit a large-brimmed black straw hat atop her head. As she sets off on her quest to collect at least four specimens of fifteen different kinds of gastropods, she hears two pairs of plastic sandals upset the pebbles closer and closer to her.

‘Wait!’ She turns, and it is Mildred who is calling for her, face still white with sunscreen.

‘Mildred Hubble! What do the two of you think you are doing?’ Hecate asks, unsure what to do with the two girls bucket hats on their heads and plastic buckets in their hands.

‘We’re helping you collect ingredients, duh!’ explains Indigo, like it is the most obvious thing on Earth.

‘Just like in the garden!’ adds Mildred.

Hecate takes a deep breath and shakes her head to herself, but doesn’t find she wants to send them away. Julie has already settled on her towel with her magazine, so Hecate figures she will keep them out of her way. She did take a day off work for this, after all, and she deserves to rest.

They start scouring the rocks, Hecate explaining in minute detail what they are looking for, and the two menaces coming back with bucketfuls of entirely the wrong animals. _Honestly, those are very clearly hermit crabs_! One would think by now they’d know slugs aren’t supposed to have legs. Despite this, it turns out six eyes are much more efficient than two when looking for minuscule molluscs, and by midday they are done. That is four entire hours less than Hecate anticipated taking on her own. She is quite unsure what to do now. They could start with lunch, she supposes.

Once she has finished organising and cataloguing the specimens in her station, Hecate unfolds the largest towel they brought, a tie-dye monstrosity easily as big as a king-size bed that Julie brought from the apartment, to hover over them, offering shade for the lunch. She glances at Julie, who sees her, nods, and calls the girls, who are currently knee-deep in the water and in the midst of a splashing match. As soon as they emerge, wrap themselves in towels, and find a nice spot in the shade, Hecate sits on a nice round rock and pulls eight sandwiches out of the bag she prepared. Hecate has barely finished handing two to each one of her companions, that Mildred’s mouth is filled with half a sandwich already. Indigo seems more hesitant but follows suit.

‘These are so good, HB, thank you so much!’ exclaims Mildred, mouth half full.

Hecate nods politely, ‘You are welcome, Mildred,’ she smiles, ‘Although I do suspect half of your taste for them is just hunger, after this morning’s activity.’

Julie, who has put her yellow checkered sundress back on – and Hecate thanks all that is Magical for it – takes a bite and as she finishes chewing she argues against Hecate’s theory. ‘Well, I have done nothing but lay in the sun all morning, and I still think they’re great!’

Hecate tries to rebut: ‘They really are n…’

‘Actually,’ cuts in Indigo, ‘I also like them a lot, so it’s the three of us against you, so you are in a numerical minority and should just admit we are right.’

‘Yeah, learn to take a compliment for once!’ exclaims Mildred, clearly well intentioned, but far too impertinent nonetheless.

Hecate and Julie’s heads snap toward her in just as much unison as the words ‘Mildred Hubble!!’ escape their mouths. It is clear Julie and Hecate’s best attempt at sternness does not translate well in a beach setting, as it is met with barely-hidden laughter from Indigo, which soon spreads to Millie, however hard she seems to be fighting it.

‘Apologise immediately, Mildred!’ demands Julie.

Mildred seems to be able to collect herself, while Indigo is still giggling.

‘Yes, Mum,’ complies the girl, who then turns to Hecate, ‘I’m sorry, HB.’

This is just about as much as Mildred’s composure seems to be able to withstand, as, with the sight of her friend laughing next to her, she erupts in fits once again. Julie turns to Hecate and rolls her eyes at the two. Hecate reciprocates the look. _It is nice to be on the same side for once._

* * *

When Mildred and Indigo have sufficiently waited, napping in the shade, after eating, and Julie has finally deemed it safe for them to go back into the water, the two sprint toward the sea with a speed Hecate didn’t think was achievable without the use of magic. Hecate is left sitting with Julie in the shade, Julie having joined her on the large, smooth piece of granite, both facing the sea.

‘They weren’t laughing at you, you know?’

‘Mmh?’

‘Before, I mean. About the sandwiches.’ Julie explains herself.

Hecate stays silent. It seemed like they were, and only now that the other woman said it is she realising how that hurt.

‘I mean it.’ insists Julie.

‘And what would you say they were laughing at?’ retorts Hecate, defensive.

‘Oh, come on, you know those two, they may not be perfect, but they don’t have a mean bone in their bodies.’

Hecate knows Julie is right, but she still cannot silence the doubt that she might not be. Precisely because she knows those two. _Especially Indy._

She sighs and decides if she tells this to Julie, she will surely find the rebuke she needs to hear.

‘Indigo and I used to make fun of other people all the time. Especially our teachers. It sounds silly now, but it made us feel like we had the upper hand at a time when it was me and her against the world.’

Julie moves her hand to cover Hecate’s on the rock. Hecate knows she should move hers away, but doesn’t want to.

‘But it’s not like that anymore…’ reassured Julie, ‘She would not do that now, because it’s not her against anyone. Especially not her against you.’ Hecate lets out a deep breath. ‘And let me tell you,’ continues Julie, ‘if you think she only sees you as her teacher after she just spent a morning collecting literal molluscs for the sole purpose of making you proud, then I don’t know how to explain to you that she doesn’t.’

Hecate doesn’t know the reason, but when Julie Hubble says this, she trusts her.

She thinks of how much Indigo has come to love Julie. And of how much Mildred always did. Enough to want to give her the magic. And Hecate know what it means to love someone that much.

‘Do you ever wish you had been able to keep your powers?’ she asks Julie, hoping that she is not stepping over any boundaries, but knowing that if she was, Julie would simply let her know.

‘Oh, those were never my powers to have,’ replies Julie earnestly. ‘They never really felt like they were. What is power if it takes away who you are?’

Once again, hearing this, Hecate feels ashamed of her harsh treatment of Julie at the time.

‘Oh, I didn’t mean those. I meant your real powers, from the Hubble bloodline.’ Hecate explains.

‘Do I ever wonder what would have been if I was born magic?’

Hecate hums in affirmation, and for a second, she can only hear the crashing of the waves and the sounds of the girls playing in the water. Then Julie continues.

‘Of course. I asked myself that many times. What would it have meant for Millie to grow up with the knowledge she had powers, and aware of all the traditions? What would it mean, right now even, for me to interact with witches as a peer, to not feel like I am always a step behind? But then I think; would that have meant that I would have been brought up in an ancient witching family? Would I have brought Millie up like the Hallows are being brought up? Would I even have had Millie?’

She pauses for a moment, then concludes, ‘I am happy with the life I have. I am happy with my sweet, sweet child, and now with Indigo, and I am happy being the outsider. I like that I get to see things from a different perspective, and to call out when you lot – pardon me – aren’t making any goddamn sense, just ‘cause you were always taught things are done a certain way. I wouldn’t want it any other way.’

Hecate is speechless. Magic has always been such an integral part of her own life; she had never thought someone might think of it like this. And yet, it makes a surprising amount of sense, even taking into account Julie’s apparent vendetta against witching traditions. She guesses she, too, likes Julie Hubble being there to see things from a different perspective. There is one thing, though, that she cannot let slide.

‘You are my peer. You have always been,’ she states, trying to convey as much sincerity as she’s capable of.

Julie turns to face her, and smile, eyes slightly lucid.

‘Come on,’ she says, ‘let’s get into the water.’

And just like that she’s up, taking her dress off, running toward the ocean.

Hecate doesn’t know what to do. She didn’t come here with any plans of going into the sea. She gets up and sees Julie wave at her from where the water reaches her waist already. She sees the girls splashing Julie and hears her complain that they are getting her hair wet.

Still completely clothed, she gathers her skirt and tentatively walks knee-deep into the sea._ The water feels marvellous._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (idk how many of you are familiar with the older series, but the swimsuits are a nod to the one episode where the gang goes to the river and the cackle students wear these funny swimsuits to the beach.) (that's the only episode ive ever watched of the old series lol) (thanks libbie for pointing me to it tho, and as usual thanks for all your help)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello and sorry for taking longer than usual to update, i haven't been feeling great this last few days. thank you to every single person who left a kind review, they really do mean a lot.
> 
> CONTENT WARNING:  
just a quick heads up, this chapter includes brief discussion of the death of family members, so if that is something that might cause you distress maybe skip this one or make sure you are in the right conditions to read. if you do have to skip this chapter and want a quick rundown of events before the next, or an abridged version without the forementioned discussion, feel free to ask.

_I made a fire, and watching it burn_  
_I thought of your future_  
_With one foot in the past now_  
_Just how long can this last_

_-_Tears for Fears, Head Over Heels

* * *

The end of July comes, in a succession of says spent mostly in the lab. Their homework is mostly done by this point, but Mildred and Indigo keep showing up every day to HB’s classroom at 10am sharp every weekday. Well, mostly sharp. There was one time they arrived late due to Mildred accidentally turning her cat as small as a snail. It was in an attempt to remember the spell HB had used the day before to make snails double their size, for easier examination. Of course, then, a good part of that morning was spent looking for Tabby around the room. Thankfully, the cat had taken not only the size of a snail, but also the speed, so once they located him under the bed, they had no problem keeping him still to reverse the spell. Suffice to say, when HB knew about the incident, she made sure it would not be repeated.

Mildred enjoys spending time learning about HB’s research. She thinks it is so cool that her teacher knows so many things about potion ingredients. Last Wednesday, she even let Mildred and Indigo borrow her previous paper, on the difference between using peppermint and spearmint in energising potions, and Mildred must admit the contents more than make up for the difficulty of the style. Come Friday, the three of them discussed the paper, and Mildred felt so proud when HB thanked her for one of her remarks, saying she ‘had never thought of that’. She hasn’t told Enid and Maud about the tutoring yet, afraid maglet messages or a mirror call are not the appropriate medium to convey what they would perceive as such a wild departure from the Miss Hardbroom they know. She is glad she will have Indigo with her when she does, as it will be much harder for their friends to believe they have both been hallucinating the same experiences.

The first day of August, at dinner, HB brings up the traditional Harvest Ritual, the first of two witching festivals around Harvest, the second, even bigger, being at the beginning of September. Apparently, Mildred finds out, the summer holidays at Cackle’s are traditionally planned precisely around the two festivals, historically beginning one month before the first and ending the day after the second. Once, Mildred would have been disappointed in herself for not knowing that, maybe even ashamed of not coming from a family where that kind of thing is taught, and of going through two whole years at Cackle’s without knowing that. Now she doesn’t care as much anymore. She knows that she’s not alone in her situation, because she has Indy. She knows she understands things her witch-born schoolmates don’t, because she has Mum. And she knows she will learn all of those things in time, because she has HB.

Since neither Mildred nor Indigo have ever participated in a Harvest Ritual before, unlike other festivals that they get to experience during the school year, HB tentatively pitches the celebration to Mum as ‘a good learning occasion’ for the two of them. She seems to be quite unsure of how the idea is going to be received, which Mildred knows to be and unfounded worry, because Mum will always jump at any chance to get to know witching customs better. And indeed, she does. She gets so excited asking HB about what the celebration entails, and seems to relishes hearing answers about bonfires, family and staying up all night.

As the two adults continue discussing Harvest traditions, Mildred feels an elbow gently plant itself in her ribcage. She turns to the only person it could belong to, sat to her right, and finds Indigo with a panicked look on her face.

‘What’s wrong?’ Mildred asks, frankly quite worried.

Indigo uses her chin to point at the adults. ‘You’ve heard what she said, right?’

Mildred is confused. ‘About what?’

‘About the ritual involving your Mother lighting a fire and the family keeping it lit all night and chanting?’

Now Mildred gets it.

‘Well, don’t worry. I don’t think it has to be literal. After all, HB did propose it, and I don’t think_ her_ Mum is coming.’

Indigo shakes her head sadly, ‘No, her Mum was dead before we even met, I remember that.’

Mildred then takes Indigo’s arm under hers to reassure her. ‘I think it is more about community than blood relations,’ she says.

Indigo looks more convinced, but not yet entirely sold on it. ‘Well, you’re gonna have _your_ Mum with you.’

‘Yes well, my Mum can’t exactly do the chanting while she lights the bonfire, can she?’ responds Millie. ‘We’ll just have to work together, all four of us.’

Indigo is finally smiling again, albeit a small smile.

Mildred adds one last thing: ‘But if this really bothers you, I bet if you ask my Mum to act as your Mother for the ritual she’ll say yes.’

‘You think so?’

‘Oh, for sure!’

‘Is everything alright?’ Mum interrupts their hushed conversation.

‘Yes.’ replies Indigo, this time with a huge smile.

* * *

On the day of the ritual, after dinner, they all scatter, each to their own preoccupations, until 9, when they’ll reconvene in the same field they ate in last week. Of course, Hecate arrives first. She didn’t expect otherwise. She is 5 minutes early, she will admit to that, but she is willing to bet anything that none of her company will be there before 9:05 at least. When Julie Hubble appears from inside the Academy at 9pm sharp, Hecate is glad she didn’t actually bet anything.

Once the woman gets closer, Hecate notices she is decked out in her best clothes, and, apparently, every single piece of jewellery she owns. She didn’t think a human wrist could ever fit that many charm bracelets, but there Julie is, in front of her, proving her wrong. Hecate finds the sight quite charming, but mainly ridiculous, and she can’t stop herself from laughing a little bit. Julie looks at Hecate, equal parts bewildered and offended.

‘Excuse me? Is anything the matter?’ Julie’s comically exaggerated outrage turns Hecate’s chuckles into full-blown laughter, which she struggles to contain.

Once she collects herself, she realises her laughter could have hurt the other woman, and rushes to apologise.

‘I am so sorry. It is just that building a pile of wood to burn is a physically demanding activity, magic or not, and the image of you trying to do it in your current… attire is quite amusing,’ Hecate explains.

What Julie’s facial expression goes through right then, from confusion, to the realisation that comes with seeing Hecate in a practical black dress, plain even for her standards, to the return to offense, and then right back to confusion, and so many other stages in between, can only be described as the wildest of journeys.

‘Well, excuse me!’ While Julie’s tone is clearly not angry, she is definitely not conciliating ‘It’s not my fault! I don’t know what witches dress like for their rituals, and, from the way you described it, it sounded like a big celebration, like Easter, or a Confirmation, or something…’

None of the things Julie is mentioning make any sense to Hecate. ‘What on Earth is Conf…’ she goes to ask, but stops herself, not wanting to sound culturally insensitive, ‘Never mind. I am sorry if I made you feel out of place, your clothes are perfectly fine.’ _More than fine, _Hecate thinks, noting how well the green dress Julie is wearing accentuates her eyes and how it matches the hair combs she slipped into her curls on each side of her head.

‘Do I have to go change?’

‘No, don’t worry. Besides, there won’t be time for that, if we want to get the bonfire going before the sun sets,’ reasons Hecate.

‘Are you sure? I don’t want to disappoint the girls…’

Hecate feels the same warmth at the thought of Julie making the effort to dress up for the girls’ ceremony that she felt when the other woman had told her she had agreed to act as Indigo’s mother in it. It feels like a wholeness she has not experienced before. She wants to make sure Julie doesn’t take her previous laughter as a reflection of what Hecate might think of her, so, against every single ones of the panicky sirens going off in her head, she puts a hand on her shoulder and faces her directly.

‘You look absolutely charming, and the girls are going to be so glad that you treated this like the important occasion it is.’

Julie finally looks convinced, and yet breaks the warm atmosphere by asking once more, this time clearly joking: ‘But are you really sure?’

‘Oh, for the love of all that is Magic, Julie Hubble, now you are just fishing for compliments and you know it!’ replies Hecate, letting go of the woman’s shoulder and concentrating on starting the wood pile.

‘Hecate Hardbroom! Are you teasing me?’

The exchange turns into what can only be described as banter, while Hecate magically floats pieces of wood in from the forest, which Julie then proceeds to arrange into a bonfire. Hecate doesn’t think she has had this much fun in decades.

* * *

As Hecate had predicted, the girls get there almost half an hour late, panting from having run all the way from their room. By the time they arrive, the adults have regained composure, but Hecate’s cheeks still ache. Anyway, they manage to get started with the ritual before the sky is completely dark, just like it is supposed to be done, and that pleases Hecate.

The way they have arranged this is that Julie works on lighting the fire, with the help of some rather unorthodox non-magical devices Hecate doesn’t recognise, while Hecate leads the girls in their chanting. In most families, one person usually completes both tasks at the same time, but they aren’t most families, and Hecate doesn’t find it hard to justify this breach of tradition to herself. Once the fire is lit, Hecate was supposed to materialise a bench from the kitchen, but Third Level Combined-Execution Large Object Summoning Spells were part of the homework the girls had gotten from Rowan-Webb, and Hecate decides it would be a useful exercise if they had to try it themselves. After only minimal fumbling with the wording of the incantation, the two manage to make the bench appear right where it was supposed to. Julie shares the proudest of looks with Hecate when they sit on it.

After that, the ritual is pretty simple. The fire stays lit all night, protected by the chanting it was lit to, and the family has to keep vigil. In the morning, when the fire magically extinguishes itself with the first light of dawn, it blesses each member of the family. So now that the chanting is done, there is nothing left to do but simply be here until they resume their chanting at sunrise. With a swiping gesture of her hand, Hecate calls four blankets to them, which arrive flying from an open window of the castle to the ‘Ooh’s and ‘Aah’s of her audience. They each wrap themselves in one and the wait begins.

Mildred lasts less than an hour, and is soon snoring with her face leaning on the shoulder of a very confused Hecate. Indigo, despite her usual struggle with sleep, seems to be lulled by the fire and is the second to go, resting her head on Julie’s lap. Hecate makes a mental note to procure an enchanted fireplace for Indigo’s room, if it is going to help her rest this peacefully. Now it is just her and Julie, and she expects to be left alone soon. Once again, she is wrong. The stars have started their trajectory in the sky hours ago now, and the woman next to her is as alert as ever. It must be the jangle of all of her jewellery keeping her awake.

_Or maybe she just cares a lot._

Either way, after a while, small talk is inevitable. Julie, as has now become her habit, enquires about their work in the lab. By now, Hecate has learnt which stories will make her laugh the most, so she tells her those. And the ones she knows will make her most proud. Those ones are easy, because Hecate feels the same. Then Julie tells her a bit about work, and Hecate never thought she would be this interested in the activities of a bunch of magic-less octogenarians. The job seems to be made for Julie, for her patience, and her good nature, and her creativity.

After that, they seem to have exhausted their usual topics of discussion, and sit there quietly for a while. At first, it is rather awkward. Hecate can feel the weight of Mildred’s head on her arm, and doesn’t dare move in case she wakes her up. Julie must be doing the same, because she is incredibly still. At least she has the luxury of breathing normally, as that won’t upset Indigo’s rest on her lap. Hecate, on the other hand, cannot afford even that. While they were talking, at least she had that to concentrate on, but now her arm and upper torso are starting to numb, even in spite of her extensive experience in keeping her vertebrae perfectly aligned. She tries her best to mask it, still uncomfortable with showing herself as less than perfectly competent in every single situation. But despite her best effort, when the numbness converts to pain, she can’t help but let out a sound somewhere between a groan and a sigh. She hopes Julie doesn’t notice.

‘Are you alright?’_ Of course Julie notices. _

‘Yes. Perfectly so,’ lies Hecate.

‘Really? Is your arm hurting? She’s been leaning on it for hours now…’ _Damn Julie Hubble and her insufferable perceptiveness._

Hecate remains stoic. ‘Only slightly. I can bear it.’

‘Are you sure? You can lean on me if it helps.’

Hecate hates that she lets herself accept the offer, but it really helps. Julie is this close to putting her head on Hecate’s shoulder and she doesn’t know if she can take it.

‘I’m so sorry that she fell asleep on you,’ Julie apologises for her daughter.

‘It’s really not a problem. I knew this would happen. I did it all the time as child.’ Hecate surprises herself, as a mention of her childhood escapes her mouth with an ease she has never experienced before.

‘You participated in this kind of thing a lot?’

Hecate nods. ‘Every year, while my mother was alive. And I would fall asleep on her without failure.’

She can feel Julie chuckle against her arm. ‘How old were you?’

‘Younger than Mildred. Mother died when I was eight.’ She stops herself for a moment. No one knows this much about her, but Ada and Miss Bat. And Pippa Pentangle, once. But she is so tired of keeping things in, and the fire’s warmth on her face and the night’s cold on her back feel unreal enough that sharing seems like an option. ‘We never celebrated Harvest after she was gone. Father was not the same after that, and never brought it up. I wanted to, but didn’t have the courage to ask. It wouldn’t have been right.’

‘Is your father still alive?’ Julie questions her, with none of the pity Hecate expected.

‘No. He died when I was twenty. I couldn’t even attend his funeral.’ _I didn’t even attend his funeral. _Hecate knows that had she asked, Ada would have released her in a heartbeat. She never asked.

‘My father died when I was nine. A car accident,’ Julie says, with the tired ease of someone who has shared that information a thousand times. Hecate spares her the I’m sorry’s.

‘What was he like?’ she asks instead.

‘Oh, he was amazing… He was so kind and he always cared so much…’ Hecate can’t see Julie’s eyes when she answers, but she imagines they’re lighting up like they do when she uses that same tone about the girls. ‘My biggest sadness is Mildred never having met him. She is so much like him.’

‘It sounds like she is,’ agrees Hecate, contemplative.

‘My favourite memory of him is my sixth birthday. I was born on the fifth of August, so my friends were always on holiday on my birthday. That particular year, me and my best friend Alice from school had planned the celebrations for months,’ she turns her head slightly toward Hecate’s face and chuckles very lightly, ‘we were going to have a bear-themed part, just the two of us, and I was going to dress as a Bear Queen and Alice was going to be the Bear Princess…’

‘A Bear… Queen?’ Hecate is very confused by this part of the story. ‘Is… Is that a common thing among ordinary people?’

‘Oh, God, no! We were just two weird little girls going through a phase of weird bear-obsession. Don’t ask me to explain ‘cause I wouldn’t be able to.’

Hecate’s confusion doesn’t dissipate, but she thinks it best to let the topic go for now.

‘Anyway,’ Julie resumes, ‘What we hadn’t accounted for in our grandiose Bear Court plans was that her parents had planned to take her to the beach that week. So I no longer had plans for my birthday or anyone to celebrate with… When my dad caught me crying about it the day before my birthday, he promised he was going to fix it. The next day I woke up to him in hand-crafted bear ears and a paper crown. He declared himself the Bear King, and decided that as the Bear Queen I would get a special Bear Cake he spent the night making with my mum, and a trip to Bear Cinema…’

Now, this Hecate truly finds incomprehensible.

‘I’m sorry… Bear Cinema…?’

‘Oh it’s just a regular film, just we were dressed as bears. I don’t even think the film itself had anything to do with bears…’

‘Like a regular what?’ Her confusion grows more and more with each word that leaves Julie’s mouth.

‘Wait a minute… are you telling me you don’t know what a cinema is?’

* * *

As the sky slowly lightens, the fire has grown weaker. They gently stir the girls awake, and Hecate begins the dawn chanting while the two young ones are still rubbing their eyes. They soon take the hint and join her, voices still croaky from the night. Julie limits herself to wrapping herself in her blanket a little tighter and holding onto a mug full of peppermint tea, which Hecate summoned her, with both hands. As the three sing, the air turns pink near the horizon and the sun starts to show its face from behind the hills, all the way on the other side of the city. When what is left of the fire is blown out by a breeze, the embers light up in a bright crimson red, almost glowing pink in the morning light, certainly not a colour Julie has ever seen embers glow. The last sparks travel erratically through the air, along with a few grains of ash. Julie feels a sacred warmth in her chest.

* * *

It is a long day, being awake on no sleep. She lets the girl off early, needing a moment on her own. After an evening meal in which each and all of the involved parties look like they’re struggling to keep their eyes open, Hecate excuses herself. She takes her second shower of the day, this time taking the time to wash her hair, in an attempt to get the persistent smell of smoke out of it. After a drying spell and her usual half-hour spent taking proper care of it, she puts her hair into a plait and quite literally collapses into bed. Sleep seems to be welcoming her with an eagerness it hasn’t shown her in a long time. She is gently drifting into a peaceful slumber when an alarm at the back of her head goes off, waking her up. There is something she is forgetting, but she can’t quite place it, in the sleepy haze.

Then it hits her.

_‘I was born on the fifth of August.’_

Tomorrow is Julie Hubble’s birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyway everyone in this is italian-coded cause im italian and i said so
> 
> (thanks again libbie)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, it is i, Experiencer of Creative Crises and Late Poster of Fic. in the unlikely event you care about this work, i'm extremely sorry about the month-long wait. i should be back on it now though, so hopefully no more log waits. no one's gonna care that i came back to my very summery fic on the first day of autumn, right?
> 
> as always, thanks libbie and thanks to everyone reading and commenting.
> 
> ANYWAY, buckle up cause we're going full parent trap this chapter

_“I have only two emotions, _  
_careful fear and dead devotion.”_  
-The National, Don’t Swallow the Cap

* * *

Julie is woken up by the sliver of sunlight hitting her eyes from her window. She doesn’t think she has ever been more grateful for a full night’s sleep, not even in her nursing days. Although, she might need a couple more nights to recover from the all-nighter. A look at her wristwatch, abandoned on the bedside table last night, tells her it’s only six. _Oh well. A few more minutes of sleep won’t hurt anyone._ She turns the other way and closes her eyes. She can’t have been lying there for long, when there’s a faint knock on her door. She gives up on trying to go back to sleep and props herself up against the bedframe.

‘Come on in! It’s not locked!’

Her first words of the day come out croaky. She reaches for the glass of water next to her and takes a big swig.

The door opens tentatively, and, before any human form can emerge from behind it, a black cat has rushed past it and jumped on Julie’s bed to settle on her lap.

‘Morgana! No!’ A very alarmed Hecate appears. ‘I am extremely sorry,’ she addresses Julie, ‘I should have locked the door to my room behind me.’

‘Oh, let her be, she’s doing nothing wrong.’ Reassures Julie, scratching the cat’s ears.

‘I don’t know what has come over her. She is usually very diffident of humans who are not me.’

‘Well, then I guess I am the exception.’ She pauses to pet the cat, then raises her eyes to Hecate. The witch is standing awkwardly in front of her door, already dressed to the nines and with her hair primly styled in its customary bun. _Well, that can’t have taken a short time._ She wonders how long the witch has been up already. The more Julie stays silent, the more Hecate looks nervous, so Julie decides to put her out of her misery.

‘Good morning.’ Julie smiles.

‘Good morning,’ replies the witch, ‘It has come to my attention that today is your birthday.’

‘Ah, yes…’ when the witch didn’t say anything when the date had escaped her lips the other night, Julie just assumed she simply didn’t notice. ‘It’s not a big deal though.’

‘Well, happy birthday.’

Julie doesn’t know how to explain it, but the words sound unfamiliar, almost surreal, coming from the mouth of the woman who has spent the majority of the past year in a _(mostly one-sided)_ feud with her. It’s so ridiculous to think about, knowing what she knows now.

‘Thank you.’

She keeps petting Morgana, who at this point is positively purring. For some reason, Hecate blushes at the sound.

‘I was wondering. If there is any activity you would like to. Take part in. As a celebration.’

For a moment, Julie thinks it looks like Hecate doesn’t want to be saying those words. Then she notices how she is nervously gripping at the timepiece hanging from her neck, and realises she very much wants to, she is just being swallowed by her own insecurity. _Bless her awkward heart._

And in truth, Julie didn’t want to make a huge deal out of her birthday, but it’s nice to be asked.

‘Actually, I do!’

In all the 49 years she has been alive, Julie has never seen someone pull a face like the one Hecate does upon hearing her response. It is such a ridiculous mix of relief and terror, that it transcends comedic, flies right over tragic, and becomes endearing.

‘There is this art exhibition they’ve been advertising near work,’ Julie continues, ‘and it closes tomorrow. I’ve been meaning to go, but I just never got around to it cause the girls said it was boring when I asked them if they’d like to go on a weekend.’

‘Very well. If that is what you wish, we can arrange your transferring for later in the evening, so that you may have time to visit this… art exhibition.’

_Oh. She really thinks she isn’t invited._ Julie genuinely cannot deal with the woman’s obtuseness sometimes_. _

‘Actually, I was hoping you would come with me.’

Hecate’s hand lets go of her timepiece, falling to her side. She opens and closes her mouth like some sort of absurdist Pez dispenser.

‘Oh. I- Oh.’ Hecate’s brains doesn’t seem to be able to form a coherent reply. After several moments, apparently the best she can come up to is: ‘But what about the children?’

‘What about them?’ asks Julie.

‘Well, you just said yourself that they do not wish to attend the exhibition, so I assumed you would want me to stay with them while you do.’

Julie stops to think for a moment.

‘I think my sister would be more than happy to have them over for the evening.’ She concludes. ‘How about this: you transfer me to the flat and I go to work like usual. Then, when I am done, instead of transferring me back here, you and the girls transfer to the flat. We drop them off at my sister’s and then we walk to the exhibition. Sound like a plan?’

‘Sounds… like a plan.’ responds Hecate, repeating such unusual wording for her.

‘Right,’ Julie says as she gently pushes Morgana off of her and gets out of bed, ‘now we better get to breakfast – I do not want to be late to work because my daughter has eaten her own arm waiting for us.’ She looks at herself in the mirror. Her hair looks crazy in the mornings, but that’s not news. She tries to fix it, but to no avail. Tiny ponytail it is, then.

Morgana walks off the bed, seemingly unaffected by her eviction, and toward her owner, who Julie doesn’t notice has awkwardly shuffled out of her room until it’s too late.

_Oh well. _She will see her at breakfast.

* * *

Breakfast is mainly spent in joyous chitchat and happy birthday-wishing. Indigo is quite proud of the food she and Mildred prepared on their own – mainly just cut up fruit and toast, but it’s still something, especially as they managed to not destroy the kitchen in the process – before they hid under the table to surprise Julie. Except she was not the first adult to walk into the kitchen, and they ended up scaring HB within an inch from her life. Which at this point seems to have become somewhat of a pattern, but the girls swear they don’t ever do it on purpose, and apologise profusely.

When Indigo hears about the plans for the evening at breakfast, she has an idea. It might just be the best idea she has ever had. She has to tell Mildred as soon as they get back to her room.

‘So, what is it?’ asks Mildred, excited at the idea of a Secret Plan, even though she doesn’t know what it is yet.

Indy pauses for a second, unsure how to pitch this in a way that will not sound insane.

‘So, if I said HB looks much happier this summer than she did last term, you would agree, right?’

‘Right.’ Says Mildred.

‘And when we were still staying at the flat, you once said you were afraid your Mum was getting lonely, right?’

Mildred looks quite lost, but still she replies: ‘I did.’

‘And you would agree that she’s not lonely anymore now that she’s here with us and HB?’ Indigo continues, wanting to making sure they’re on the same page before she reveals what the big plan is.

‘I guess not?’

‘And you also see the way they look at each other, right? I’m not making it up?’

Alright, now she might have truly lost Mildred. ‘What do you mean, the way they look at each other?’

This is the most delicate part. Indigo has to play this right if she wants her friend to be on board with her the Plan.

‘What I mean is. They look at each other like grown-ups do when they like each other.’

‘Well of course they like each other,’ is Mildred’s clueless response, ‘they’ve lived together for a month, and they must have patched things up, because how else would they spend so much tim… Oh.’

_There it is._ Mildred finally got her message. Except she stays silent, mouth agape and eyes wide open, for so long, Indigo starts to suspect she might have blown this. It might have all been a huge mistake. What if her friend is offended by her suggestion, and what if she tells her mum and HB, and what if they get mad, and what if they don’t want her anymore, and, and… No. _Mildred would never put her at risk like that._

‘Mil…?’ she asks, still unsure.

Her friend’s mouth finally lets out a sound. ‘Oh.’ She repeats.

Then gets up from her bed and hits her forehead with her palm.

‘Oh, bats, Indy you’re right! They like each other! Like, they_ like_ like each other!’

Indigo feels so relieved that she’s not the only one seeing this. She just says ‘Right?!’

‘Of course! That time on the beach, and the looks at dinner, and… Did I tell you the other night, in front of the bonfire, when HB woke me up, I saw Mum looking at her like… Last time she looked at someone like that it was the nice surgeon at the hospital that she had a crush on!’ Mildred is pacing the room like some sort of maniac. Maybe Indigo just created a monster.

‘Right?!’, repeats Indigo, ‘and wouldn’t it be nice if HB could keep being happier? And your mum less lonely?’

Finally, Mildred stops and looks at Indigo.

‘So, what’s the plan?’ 

* * *

As soon as she is done with her work for the day, Hecate heads to her room. She is feeling particularly tense, and what’s worse is that she has no idea why. She decides to start getting ready two whole hours in advance. Which is a perfectly justifiable choice if one cares intensely about being on time. And about everything else going perfectly. Which in turn is a perfectly justifiable desire on one’s friend’s birthday. _Friend. What a concept._

In any case, she is ready with ninety minutes to spare. She looks at herself in the mirror and is as satisfied as she is going to be. At the girls’ suggestion, she has left her hair down, and worn her simplest black dress, one of the only sleeveless and collarless pieces she owns, because apparently her usual look might call too much attention to her in the ordinary world. _‘Oh, you’ll look so pretty!’_ had rejoiced Mildred when Hecate had finally agreed. What a weird statement. Probably just the meaningless musings of an excitable thirteen-year-old. Still, Hecate doesn’t feel unpretty. Not that she cares about looking pretty for her outing with Julie Hubble, of all people.

She fidgets with her hair for a bit, finally settling on precisely the same style she had begun with: simply putting the hair at the front of her head into a small plait at the back to avoid it facing on her face. That looks like an ordinary enough style.

When she’s done with that, she truly has no idea how to employ her time for the next hour. The more she sits down idly, the more the apprehension grows in her gut. She has to find a way to stop this or she and the girls will never make it to the flat because she’ll explode in the process of transferring. She thinks perhaps talking to someone might help. That would not normally be her preferred route, but, after her best calming potion hasn’t worked, she is running out of options. Besides, it might be good to speak to an adult who isn’t Julie Hubble, for a change.

First, she thinks of Ada. But when she mirrors her room in Scotland she finds no one. Dimity is out of the question, as Hecate is not in the mood for being teased, however lovingly. She originally also excluded Miss Bat _(Mrs Bat, now)_ from her options, because, quite frankly, she doesn’t think answering a colleague’s panicked calls is very high on the priority list of a witch who is currently on honeymoon with the love of her life from whom she was separated for several decades. But now she remembers how the older witch has told her to reach out if she ever needed to talk. Against every fibre of her being screaming that she is only burdening someone who has been nothing but good to her her entire life, she sits herself down in front of the mirror once again and she tries calling Miss Bat.

Surprisingly, her older colleague responds almost as soon as she tries.

‘Hecate, dear, is everything alright?’

‘Yes, I am sorry to bother…’ she replies, thinking Gwen might have only answered because she thought this was an emergency.

‘Nonsense,’ Mrs Bat dispels Hecate’s doubts, ‘You can call anytime you want, dear. It is always a pleasure to hear from a friend.’

‘Thank you. How are you and Algernon?’ Hecate guesses asking this kind of things is the polite thing to do. Plus, as she says it, she discovers she actually cares.

‘Marvellous! We have just arrived to Spain. Last week we were in Paris, and the week before in Venice. OH, you would love Venice, Hecate, dear. You should really come visit now that… Well, you should come, that’s all.’ Hecate knows exactly what Gwen is referring to. Multiple-decade confinements don’t exactly allow one to see the world. But she is grateful to her friend for stopping before mentioning it out loud.

‘Maybe one day I will, who knows?’ She tries her best to smile. For now, the Hubble flat is far enough. That she even made it to the beach last month still feels unbelievable.

‘And tell me, how are you doing? Ada tells me you have company in the castle…’

Hecate averts the other witch’s gaze. ‘Yes, well… That has been… Interesting.’

‘Oh, Hecate… How’s Indigo?’ There is worry in Gwen’s tone, and justifiably so, if Hecate thinks of the last time they spoke of the topic.

‘She is doing very well, actually,’ Hecate can’t help a tinge of pride in her voice as she relates this, ‘She and Mildred Hubble have been precious assistants in my current research.’

Gwen’s face lights up. ‘Oh, but that’s brilliant!’ Then, she curbs her own enthusiasm. ‘And there haven’t been… incidents, right?’

‘None big enough to matter, considering who we’re talking about.’ Hecate chuckles under her breath at that.

‘What good news, my dear! And how about… The older Hubble…’ Once again, a topic on which Gwen’s information is quite outdated by now.

‘Oh, she is. Fine.’ Hecate tries to play down the way her heart races when she is asked about Julie Hubble. ‘It is her birthday today,’ Hecate offers as a tentative way of steering the conversation in the direction she needs it to go.

‘Wonderful!’ reacts Mrs Bat. ‘This is just good news after good news! You don’t know how happy that makes me! And tell me, what are the plans for the celebrations?’

_There it is. The reason for this call._ And yet, Hecate feels nervous when she says this, like she’s letting Gwen in on a secret. _But it’s not a secret, right?_

‘Well,’ begins Hecate, ‘she has asked me if I would like to go to an _art exhibition _this evening.’ Her tongue still struggles with the words, but it’s getting better.

‘…And would you like to?’ asks her friend, straight to the point.

‘Of course.’ Explains Hecate. ‘We are leaving in an hour.’

Gwen stares at her for a second. ‘Hecate,’ she starts, her tone announcing she is to be responded to with full honesty, ‘how are you feeling about this?’

‘Perfectly calm.’ Hecate tries it, despite knowing perfectly well her lie is not going to work.

Hecate can see the hint of a smug smirk on the behind the kind face on the other side of the mirror.

‘Oh, really? Because you look rather… tense, my dear.’ Leave it to Gwen Bat to always see right through Hecate’s façade.

Hecate bats her eyes as slowly as possible, to buy herself time to compose an answer that will make sense, even just to herself.

‘Well, I… I am not entirely sure what I am supposed to do with this situation.’ She says. It is the truth. _Most of the truth._

‘Tell me more.’ Invites her friend, gently but with resolution.

‘I… Well, for one, I have never been to an art exhibition, and I don’t know how one is supposed to look or act at one. I just don’t want to make a fool of myself.’ That’s about as much honesty as Hecate can manage.

‘Right,’ answers Gwen with a knowing look, ‘well, as for how one is supposed to look, I can assure you that you look extremely charming,_ and_ perfectly adequate for the occasion.’

Hecate clasps the timepiece at her neck, directing her gaze to it. ‘Thank you,’ she whispers.

‘As for what not making a fool of yourself,’ Mrs Bat continues, ‘I suppose the only way you can truly do that is if you don’t let yourself have fun. It’s a birthday celebration, Hecate!’

Precisely what Hecate feared her friend would say. _Precisely what she needed her to say._

‘Well, yes…’ Hecate tries to begin to form an answer, when she hears Algernon Rowan-Webb’s muffled voice come from the other side of the mirror, in what may or may not sound like an invite to ‘Come down to the pool, my love’.

‘Just a second!’ shouts Gwen to her new husband. She then turns to Hecate one last time to excuse herself. ‘Alright, I better go, duty calls!’ She says, in a comically false miffed tone.

‘Goodbye,’ bids her Hecate, ‘and thank you very much.’

‘You’re welcome, my dear!’ Mrs Bat takes her leave, before getting up from in front of her mirror.

Once she has almost left the room, and her image has mostly faded, Gwen makes a sudden comeback just to say: ‘Oh, and Hecate? Come on, a beautiful woman asked you on a date! I meant it when I said have fun!’

And with that, she truly disappears.

_… ‘A beautiful woman asked you on a date’?_

_A date? _

_A date??_

Somehow this call has left Hecate more panicked than it found her.

* * *

Mildred and Indigo try to be as punctual as possible, as it would be a pity if they ruined the Plan in its very first step just from being late. Step One of the Plan should theoretically be fairly simple. They just have to go to Aunty Mo’s for the evening and try to avoid any accidents or anything that could disturb Mum and HB. In practice, considering their track record, Mildred is a bit worried about their chances.

But they are determined to not let their accident-prone nature stop them. Before leaving, they clean their bedroom and check it for any suspicious goings-on. Once they declare it clear, they leave it as it is, careful to not even slightly shift any of its contents. They leave Star and Tabby in their room, but make sure to lock it and to leave them anything they might need for the night, so that they don’t cause any trouble.

Once in the corridor, there is nothing left to do but knock on HB’s room. Despite how everything has changed in the past weeks, Mildred has never actually been in her teacher’s quarters, and for some reason she has a feeling that intruding today might not be the best way to ensure everything runs smoothly. On the other hand, they do have to let her know they’re outside somehow.

‘Do _you_ wanna do it?’ Mildred tries to sound as nonchalant as possible, hoping her friend doesn’t share her fear.

‘Not really…’ responds Indigo.

_Oh no._ ‘Well… we sort of have to…’ she concludes, trying to convince herself as much as Indy.

‘Together?’ suggests Indigo with a tentative smile.

Well, if they have to do it, it’s only fair that they do it together. Mildred nods. ‘Together.’

‘Alright.’

They both raise their wrists, and silently mouth a countdown to each other.

_Three._

_Two._

As Mildred takes a big breath, the door opens, revealing HB standing behind it, just as startled by them as they are by her. _This is becoming a habit._

‘Sorry, HB, we were…’ begins Indigo, ‘…about to knock…’ finishes Mildred.

‘I can see that.’ She replies, looking much less enthusiastic than she looked this morning, but somehow even more nervous. Terrified might be a better word for it.

She is dressed like they advised her to. That’s a good place to start.

‘You look so nice!’ tries Mildred.

HB turns around to check some clearly imaginary object in her room apparently calling her attention. Mildred isn’t tricked, and knows she is avoiding facing them as she replies.

‘Yes, well,’ HB locks her room, ‘we better get going. Are you two ready?’

‘Ready!’ both of them reply, in their usual almost-unison.

‘Very Well. Take my hands, then, and prepare for transferring.’ HB dictates.

Each of them holds one of the older witch’s hands, and almost immediately Mildred feels her body materialise in her flat’s kitchen. She takes a look around. She had missed this place.

‘Mum! We’re here!’

‘Coming!’ calls Mum from the other room.

Mildred can tell she is bustling about in the bathroom. This means she has probably had time to change out of her work clothes and get ready, just like Mildred had suggested to her. _Perfect. _The Plan is going swimmingly. Apart from the fact that HB looks like she has seen several ghosts as soon as she hears Mum’s voice. Once Mum appears from the corridor in her favourite blue embroidered blouse, the one Mildred knows she wears when she wants to look nice _and_ feel nice, HB pales so quickly and her eyes go so wide that she now looks like a ghost of herself.

_No, no, no. This won’t do._

Mildred turns to Indy, who looks as alarmed as Mildred feels.

Indigo makes a confused gesture with her hands. Mildred shakes her head to communicate she has no idea what is going on.

‘Are you three alright?’ asks Mum.

‘Yes! Yes!’ promptly responds Indigo, ‘We were just trying to remember at what time we have to be at Aunty Mo’s.’ She winks at Mildred, clearly satisfied with the excuse she’s come up with.

‘Seven thirty, dear,’ replies Mum, ‘in fact,’ she looks at the clock on the wall, ‘I think we may be slightly late, so let’s go! Chop chop!’

Mum guides them out of the apartment door. HB has still not uttered one single word. The Plan is at risk, they have to leave Mum and HB alone as soon as possible so that HB is forced to face Mum. Mildred turns to Indy and goes: ‘Race down the stairs?’

Before she can finish uttering her challenge, her friend is half a flight ahead of her, so Mildred rushes down trying to catch her, and they are down all five floors at record speed.

Mildred has an idea. If she calls the lift to the ground floor, Mum and HB will have to wait longer or to take the stairs. Either way, it will take them more time. She can hear Mum turning the keys, which means she still has time. She pushes the button as fast as she can, then turns to Indy and explains her gesture in a hushed tone.

It does indeed take Mum and HB two whole minutes to descend, according to Mildred’s beloved space-themed wristwatch, which has a stopwatch function. Despite this, when the lift doors open, the atmosphere is even more awkward than before.

‘So,’ Mum tries to break the silence as they make their way down the street to Aunty Mo’s, ‘What have you three been up to in my absence?’

Mildred and Indigo share a look, agreeing to not take this one, forcing HB to speak. Indy even dares ever so gently nudging HB toward Mum.

After several endless seconds of silence, HB clears her throat, and begins recounting the work they have gotten to in the lab. By the time she gets to the most interesting part – her breakthrough involving the mixed use of different snail species’ mucus –, HB has regained a semblance of ease, with the help of Mum’s genuinely interested questions.

_Mission accomplished._


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the one image of mo hubble in the show: pretty lady with long blonde hair  
me, making mo a kind butch lesbian with a fun wife: MY CITY NOW
> 
> also, allow me to make a disclaimer: there is some preudo-historical semi-political talk toward the end of this chapter. the imagined history that is discussed, of course, operates on the assumption that magic and witches were real all along, in quite a literal way. for this reason. i hope i will be forgiven for showing very little regard toward the actual real-life history of witchcraft, and creating my own parallel reality. that and also i'm too lazy for proper research. anyway please know that i'm entirely aware of how wildly inaccurate this all is.

_You go your way_

_I’ll go your way too_

-Leonard Cohen, The Sweetest Little Song

* * *

The girls look excited to be seeing Mo. Mildred has always loved spending time with her Auntie, and Indigo seems to have taken a liking to her the first time they visited her café. Julie leads the party there, and Hecate says goodbye to Mildred and Indigo for the evening. She asks to wait in the street while Julie takes them upstairs to her sister’s. Julie isn’t particularly convinced by this choice. She knows Hecate is unused to the ordinary world, and she knows about her confinement and doesn’t imagine Hecate has spent much time alone in ordinary streets since it’s been lifted, so she hesitates to leave the witch on her own. But Hecate insists, and Julie can see that she’s afraid of meeting Mo, even more than she is afraid of waiting on her own. Which means she must be really, _really_ afraid. Julie opts for compromise, to avoid leaving Hecate standing in the middle of the street. Instead, she rings her sister, checking that she is already upstairs, and, when she is sure the two won’t meet if she does, brings Hecate into the café and sits her down with a cup of tea.

When Julie comes back downstairs, sans the girls, the young barista Mo had introduced as her right-hand woman but whose name Julie can’t remember is standing next to Hecate’s table, apparently making small talk. As soon as she sees Julie approach, Hecate’s face lights up, then turns into a pained grimace. Bless her heart, the girl has been going on and on and Hecate looks quite taken aback by her enthusiasm.

‘Julie!’ exclaims the girl, gesticulating in her direction when she sees her make her way towards Hecate’s table. ‘So you’re the date that left Miss Hardbroom here waiting!’

As Julie gets closer, she can finally read the girl’s name tag. _Sara! That’s what she’s called!_

Well, Sara seems to have gotten a very specific idea of what’s going on here, and Julie’s not entirely sure where she’s gotten it. It certainly can’t have been Hecate.

‘Hi,’ Julie greets her, ‘well, yes, I was just gone for a few minutes. Took Mildred up to Mo’s.’ Julie feels an abrupt need to clarify. She doesn’t even think Sara’s right in calling her Hecate’s date, and yet for some reason she can’t let herself be seen as a bad one.

Hecate, for her part, seems impatient to leave. ‘Very well,’ she says, getting up, ‘We better go now, don’t we? We wouldn’t want to be late.’

Julie knows perfectly well there is no way for them to be late, as they can arrive to the museum at whatever time they’d like. Still, she reads this for what it is – Hecate’s exasperated cry for help – and takes the bait.

‘Right. Well, it was nice to see you again, Sara. Have a nice evening.’ Julie excuses herself and Hecate.

As they take their leave, they hear the girl reply: ‘Have fun on your date!’

Julie doesn’t think she’s ever seen Hecate walk this fast, and she’s seen the woman walk pretty fast in their time together. As soon as they’re out of the door, and out of view from the shop window, her pace slows down slightly, not knowing exactly which way to go, and waiting for Julie to show her. Still, she very pointedly refuses to look at Julie.

‘I want to clarify that I never so much as uttered the word _date _in front of that woman,’ Hecate blurts out, still walking.

Just as Julie thought. Sara clearly saw something that just isn’t there.

_Or is it? _Julie’s never been one to let herself wonder.

‘Well,’ she starts, not without a twinge of uncertainty, ‘I wouldn’t mind if you did. Utter that word, I mean.’ She stops on her steps for a second, trying to feel as brave as her next questions requires her to. ‘Would you?’

Hecate Hardbroom stops right beside her, eyebrows shooting higher than most human faces are capable of. Julie thinks she might have scared her off entirely, ruining their budding friendship. But then, Hecate’s chest rises and lowers slowly once, and when she opens her mouth she says: ‘No, I would not.’

Then, she starts walking again, slowly at first, waiting for Julie to reach her and show her the way, then picking up the pace, but never rushing. Next to the footpath they’re walking is a canal, and on the other side of it is a short row of weeping willows. The late afternoon sun envelops the narrowboats and makes the water glisten. They walk in silence for a while, past the people in loosened neckties and their happy hour, past the children in the playgrounds begging their parents for _just another five minutes, please,_ past the joggers with their dogs_,_ past the old lady on the bench feeding the pigeons, the gulls, and one grey heron. Julie does not stop smiling the entire time.

* * *

Hecate thought it would be more awkward, once they got to the museum and had to speak again, considering their last conversation. Really, it is not. Hecate pays for admission to the exhibit, fumbling with ordinary methods of payment, but insisting that she should, and then they’re in.

At first, it is somewhat overwhelming. Hecate has seen – and scoffed at – quite a few art pieces in her time, but never this many, and never this many all at once, and never this many all at once in a gallery, and never this many all at once in a gallery filled with people, ordinary people. She doesn’t think she gets it, not quite, but for the first time ever she is willing to give _art _a try. This was Julie’s birthday wish after all, and the last thing Hecate wants is to ruin it for her.

Julie, who has to read every single room’s introduction, and every single object’s label, and has to stop in front of every single item for minutes on end. Julie, who whips out a sketchbook and three pastels in primary colours (‘magenta, cyan and yellow,’ she explains, ‘_not_ red and blue’) and starts taking notes and illustrating each one of her writings. Julie, who gets so visibly agitated explaining her favourite pieces to Hecate that people are turning, and giving them looks. Hecate knows she should care, but she truly doesn’t. She doesn’t know any of these people, and not one of them is half as important as the excitement in Julie Hubble’s eyes as she talks of the theme of transformation, or of what she thinks all of these mirrors might mean.

And, by the time they leave the third room, Hecate finds she has a new appreciation for all of this. The next room has pictures hanging on the walls on which the overlap of ethereal and obscure creates the most compelling shapes, almost human, but not quite, and it has sculptures that look soft, like very hungry, very tender creatures, mouths lined with teeth and backs lined with fur, and so much more, and Hecate finds it all… _fascinating? _Most of all, of course, she is fascinated with the woman currently sitting cross-legged on the floor, a pencil behind her ear, one in her mouth, and one in her hand, head oscillating with her gaze, between the art on the wall and the one in her sketchbook.

* * *

Indigo is enjoying her time at Auntie Mo’s. The flat is very nice, and from the sofa she and Mildred are sitting on you can hear the bustling of the city coming in from the open window, but also the sounds of Mo and her wife Janet scurrying about in the kitchen, preparing a tray of tea and biscuits for everyone. Mo is just as friendly as Indigo remembers from when they visited the café at the beginning of the summer. _That feels like ages ago._ But Indigo knows about _ages ago_, and barely more than a month is not ages ago.

When they entered the flat, Mo greeted them in a nice blue plaid shirt, her selves rolled up, and introduced Indigo to Janet, whose friendly face and curly black hair appears from the kitchen before the rest of her comes forward. Seeing Mildred run to embrace her aunts made Indigo feel the slightest tinge of envy, but it soon all turned into a warm feeling when they came to hug her as if she, too, was their niece. After that, Julie quickly greeted her sister and sister-in-law, who proceeded to sing her happy birthday, embarrassing her to no end. When she made her leave, Indigo and Mildred were left here waiting on the sofa. Indigo doesn’t mind the wait, it’s a nice, calm time to ponder their next move.

What the Plan dictates is to convince Auntie Mo and Auntie Janet to have them over for dinner, so that Julie and HB have more time to send on their own. Now, that part looks fairly simple to achieve, as the aunts seem quite keen to spend time with Mildred, and therefore with Indigo. What is going to take a little finessing, actually, is inviting themselves over without Janet and Mo insisting Julie and HB come too.

Sure enough, as soon as Mo sets down the tea tray, pours some for each girl, and sits on the sofa opposite them, letting out a small huff and threading her hand through her short blonde hair, Janet’s voice comes from the kitchen, telling her wife to ‘ask the girls if they want to stay over, babe.’

Mildred looks at Indigo with a knowing grin.

_Part Two of the Plan is afoot._

* * *

Before they exit the museum shop, Julie’s phone rings. She almost lets it ring, but then decides to check who it is, just to be sure. As she suspected, it’s Mo, so she picks up, only to make sure nothing serious happened to the girls, while Hecate is lost in her apparent fascination for all the useless bits and bobs the gift shop sells.

‘Hello?’

‘Hey!’ Julie hears her sister’s voice on the other side of the call. ‘So, just so you know, it took Janet less than ten minutes since you left to invite the girls to stay for dinner. Is that alright?’ Mo says, like she’s been expecting this to happen. To be fair, Julie would be surprised if it didn’t. If there’s one thing her sister’s wife’s known for in the family it’s her inclination to spoil Mildred.

_Oh, well._ Julie sighs and gives the only possible response. ‘Of course, it’s alright.’ Julie’s not going to deny her daughter time with her Aunts, who she sees so rarely now that she’s away. Except, there’s one element complicating things. One tall, beautiful element who just now apparently got bored of browsing postcards and is currently heading towards Julie. ‘It’s just… I don’t know if I can convince Hecate to join us…’

‘Oh, no worries. Your very smart girls already accounted for this. They think you and this Hecate of yours should stay out for dinner, and I, for one, agree.’ _This Hecate of yours._ Julie will never be able to deal with the sheer gall of her sister.

‘Well, first things first, she is nobody’s Hecate…’ Julie tries to rebut, but she can hear Mo laughing her usual insufferable chuckle on the other side of the phone.

‘Alright, as you say. Do have fun on your date, though.’

Julie can’t take anymore of her sister’s check, and, besides, Hecate is standing right next to her with a very impatient look on her face now, so she decides to let Mo have this one. ‘Yes, yes, well, okay. Gotta go now. What time should we come pick up the girls?’

‘Ten will be fine. Or even later, if you fancy some more alone time…’ Julie can practically hear her sister winking, and feels her blood rush to her cheeks.

‘Oh, do shut up. I’ll see you at ten.’

‘See ya.’ Mo blows her a kiss, and Julie hears the_ beep_ announcing the call is over.

* * *

There is not one second that Julie even considers dining out. There’s no chance she is ruining what has until now been an excellent birthday by exposing herself to any more people just _assuming_ this is a date. _Which it kind of is. _But that doesn’t mean other people get to decide it is. It is one because they said so, and no one else gets a say on this. For now, it feels too delicate to even let anyone witness it, so the only possible option seems to be the flat. When Julie explained the situation to her, Hecate did suggest she transfer them back to the castle, but they’d still have to walk back to the flat to be able to do that undisturbed, and then they’d have to transfer back to pick up the girls. And Julie’s got a perfectly functional kitchen, if Hecate just summons some basic ingredients. So there really is no point in anything but dinner at the flat.

Once they arrive, the comfortable flow of conversation they had somehow managed to keep up since entering the museum is gone, and so is the serene silence of their walk before that. It is quite awkward for a while, until Julie asks what Hecate wants to have for dinner.

‘There should be some tomatoes and peppers in the school pantry,’ replies the witch matter-of-factly, ‘If you have some pasta and herbs, I could cook that.’

Julie gets up from the kitchen chair she’s sitting on, and exclaims in fake outrage: ‘Hecate Hardbroom, are you insinuating I would be as rude as to invite you over at my house and then make you cook for me?’

‘_Julie Hubble_,’ Hecate responds imitating her tone with sarcasm, ‘What I am insinuating is that you should not be up cooking for someone else on your own birthday.’

Which is a convincing enough argument for Julie to at least let Hecate get near the kitchenette. Except as soon as she does and makes the ingredients appear, it becomes apparent that she is entirely lost. From the chair Julie has been sitting on, waiting for precisely this moment, she has to let out a snicker and roll her eyes with comical intensity, while making a show of having to get up to help the witch find a pot.

What ends up happening is Hecate keeps insisting to do things herself, and Julie keeps having to help her. It settles into a kind of dance of give and take, each of them moving around the other wordlessly, a step back or a nod enough for the other to know what to do. It feels awfully intimate for what is supposedly a first date_, but hey, that’s what happens when you’ve lived together for a month._

Once the pasta is ready, Julie has the brilliant idea to move the table to the terrace. The balcony is too small for it, so whenever she does this the table winds up only halfway outside, wobbly from the different height of the two floors. Julie never minder that much, and she particularly doesn’t mind tonight, it’s her birthday and she will have her table as wobbly as she wants, if it means she gets to enjoy the evening breeze and the first stars appearing in a still lavender-hued sky. And a particularly quiet Hecate looking at her from across the table.

‘Earth to Hecate?’ she calls out quietly, in what by now has become a running joke of theirs.

‘Mmh?’ Hecate is elegantly chewing on what seconds ago was the most diligently rolled up forkful of spaghetti Julie has ever seen.

‘What’s on your mind?’

Hecate finishes chewing, then takes her time to dab a napkin on her lips before replying.

‘Nothing.’

Julie can see it’s all but ‘_Nothing’._

‘That is not the face of someone who is thinking of nothing, lady.’ Julie pushes her in the gentlest way possible.

The witch takes a single, shallow breath.

‘It really is nothing. It’s only. It’s not often I get to enjoy this kind of evening with someone like you.’

Julie is slightly taken aback by the honesty of the confession.

‘Well, I could say the same, you know?’ Julie almost adds a joke about not having gone on many dates with witches, but stops herself, not wanting to break what feels like a precious acknowledgment of vulnerability, not something that comes very often with Hecate Hardbroom. Or at least with the Hecate Hardbroom Julie used to know. The Hecate Hardbroom she_ thought _she knew. This Hecate doesn’t seem less terrified of her own emotions, but she does seem more willing to face that terror. _Which is all that matters, really._

‘You know what I mean.’ Hecate tilts her head slightly to the side, looks down, and smirks ever so gently. Her hair falls from her shoulder to her back with the movement, exposing the contour of her pale neck.

‘Yes, I do.’ And Julie does really know what Hecate means. She knows what seeing the castle in the distance, being away from it means. She knows what having passed the hurdle of even mentioning the word _date_ means. She knows what allowing joy to happen means. There is a tenderness that comes with that knowledge, a sacredness which Julie cherishes. ‘If it means anything, I am very glad that you’re here with_ someone like me_.’

Julie smiles.

Hecate smiles back. ‘Do you think the girls are behaving at your sister’s?’ She unashamedly changes the subject. _But that’s alright._ All of the important things have been said, really.

‘Oh, it’s not the girls I’m worried about, it’s Mo and Janet.’ Julie sniggers.

Hecate gives her a puzzled look, as she takes another immaculate mouthful of pasta.

Julie explains: ‘They go crazy when Millie’s over, and the spoiling tends to get out of hand if I’m not there. I can’t imagine what it must be like with double the amount of kids to spoil.’

Julie thinks she must have clarified the cause for Hecate’s puzzlement, but her companion’s expression isn’t changing.

Once her mouth is empty, Hecate finally gives an indication of what’s confusing her: ‘Janet?’

_Does Hecate she not know about Janet?_

‘That’s Mo’s wife! Surely I’ve mentioned her before?’

But Hecate looks more lost than before. ‘Mo’s… wife?’

‘Have I really never talked about her?’

‘So you mean… women can just get married to each other among ordinary people?’

Oh. _So that’s what this epiphany is about._

‘Oh, it’s a new thing, mind you. And people had to fight for it, and for so much more. But yes. You can get married to people of the same gender as you.’

Hecate looks like a chasm has opened at her feet and she is barely holding herself from falling.

‘And it’s not… looked down upon? You don’t get ostracised for it?’ The question seems to come to Hecate as an anxious afterthought, a sudden worry for people she has never met.

Julie stops for a second, trying to formulate an answer that is both exhaustive and not overwhelming for someone who seems to already be shocked by the notion of gay marriage. She feels an urge to protect the lost eyes in front of her from all the horribleness, but trusts Hecate to handle the truth.

‘Well, there’s been a history of that, yes. It still happens, all over the world, even in the places where we tell ourselves we’re safe. But there’s also always been people fighting that, and there will continue to be.’ While she explains this, a thought occurs to Julie. ‘But, wait a minute, is same-sex marriage not allowed in witching society?’

‘Not really, no,’ is the extent of Hecate’s response.

This is. Not what Julie had always assumed.

‘Really? I always thought…’

‘You always thought…?’

Julie tries to put this in a way that’s not dismissive of what she can now see is Hecate’s reality.

‘I always thought… Well, I always assumed that the witching world would be above this kind of problem, that’s all. Maybe it is because all I know of it is all these powerful witches… Powerful women, really, in general… I don’t think I’ve ever properly met a wizard apart from Mr Rowan-Webb, and, well… He doesn’t really exude toxic masculinity…’ Julie can feel herself stumble over her words, so she stops talking. If there is one thing this delicate conversation doesn’t need, it’s her trampling all over the intricacies of gender in the magical world like an elephant in a china shop. Hecate has almost emptied her dish, while Julie is still halfway through hers. She really should just shut up and concentrate on the pasta.

Hecate takes a brief pause, then explains.

‘I can see where you might have gotten that impression. But I can assure you _“witching world” _is just an empty expression to most of the people living in it. Wizards very much do still hold a lot of the power. There is a reason we have a Great Wizard, and not a Great Witch.’

Julie is in shock. ‘But what about Cackles?’ she asks.

Hecate takes a wistful look at the outline of the Academy in the distance, against an almost-darkened sky. It’s short enough that anyone in the habit of paying less attention to Hecate Hardbroom than Julie seems compelled to might have missed it. But Julie notices.

‘You see, our education institutions tend to be inherited within founding families by the firstborn child of the same gender as the school pupils. So yes, witching Academies, and Universities, tend to be one of the fields where brilliant witches are allowed to excel. Make no mistake, though, there are people who believe that that is still unfair, and co-ed schools have been proliferating in the past few decades. I am sure Mildred has told you all about Pentangle’s.’

‘Do you agree? That this is an unfair system?’

It takes a fair bit for Hecate to answer.

‘I have had my doubts.’ She finally says.

This is fascinating, almost as much as it is depressing.

‘Like what?’ Julie can’t help but pry.

‘Well, I assume you know about your daughter’s short stint in staff magic last year.’

Oh, Julie knows. It is actually baffling, now, to be putting all of these pieces together. The gendered magical practices, the single-sex education, the man in a position of entirely unregulated power. Julie feels a certain annoyance at herself for not truly understanding just how unfair the whole system is until now. Somehow, that annoyance enters her thoughts in the voice of her mother. This is not what Catherine Hubble, dragger of lazy daughters to 70s feminist marches and bringer of excited granddaughters to Pride parades, taught her.

Still, this is confusing.

‘Mildred said you were adamantly against her using that staff?’, Julie questions the witch, unwilling to turn a blind eye to her past unpleasantness.

Hecate nods a repentant yes.

‘I was. Very adamantly.’ She takes a pause to clear her throat. ‘I was also hiding a wand in my laboratory.’

There is something endearing about the image of Hecate Hardbroom tending to a seed of quiet rebellion like that. If it wasn’t for the fact that she nipped it in the bud for all of her pupils. Julie is about to mention this, when Hecate speaks again.

‘I now see the error in my ways. There are many rules I still don’t feel sorry for imposing – I may not have always been the most pleasant of teachers but I always had my pupils’ safety at heart. But I am not proud of enforcing that particular rule.’

‘I understand.’ Julie says. And she does. ‘I still can’t believe your society has this kind of problems, though. I guess I always thought of witches as breakers of gender rules. I mean, I’m still in shock from hearing gay relationships are not accepted…’

Hecate sighs lightly, looking at Julie wave her fork around as she gets more incensed. Feeling observed, Julie calms herself a little and goes back to the last bites of pasta, while Hecate explains.

‘It wasn’t always like this. You see, centuries ago there was no such thing as a _witching society,_ because there didn’t need to be. There were women who had powers, and were deemed witches, and men who we would now call wizards, who tented to simply be seen as powerful. They lived among ordinary folk. It wasn’t until we had to hide because of the Hu…’

‘Oh, I know about the Hunts!’ Interrupts Julie, only realising mid-sentence her eagerness to prove her knowledge caused her to speak with her mouth full. ‘Sorry.’ She says, with a hand covering her mouth.

She swallows the pasta and curbs her enthusiasm. Hecate is looking at her with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile.

‘What?’ Julie defends herself coyly, ‘I have read Magical History books, you know?’

Hecate’s effort to hide her grin seems to get more and more useless.

‘I didn’t say anything.’ She teases. ‘At any rate,’ she goes back to a more serious tone, ‘there are things you may not have learnt on those books, because we tend to be too cowardly to teach this to our children. Because witches were already seen as bending certain rules, there was some more leeway at the time for…’ She pauses to pick her words. ‘…women of less conventional tendencies.’

Julie can’t suppress a snicker at all the hoops Hecate’s brain clearly jumped through to find that euphemism. As she laughs, a gust of night breeze makes her shiver. _Almost time to go inside._

‘There are several records of witches in those times living as married, and even performing binding rituals, with very little pushback from their peers.’ Hecate continues recounting. ‘Of course, everything changed with the Hunts…’

‘When wizards had to hide as well as witches, and a society was created that paralleled the ordinaries’…’ Julie completes the thought, suddenly intuiting how everything must have gone.

‘Precisely. Wizards didn’t really seize power, as much as were handed it by the very nature of the creation of our community.’

Julie’s intuition carries her to the next step. ‘So witches _of less conventional tendencies_…’ she repeat’s Hecate’s turn of word.

‘Witches in general found themselves relegated in the same roles as ordinary women, and wizards held to the same ones as ordinary men. And anyone stepping outside of those boundaries was punished.’

Julie stays silent for a while, confronted with the history of violence that last word implies. She daren’t ask for clarifications on it. Instead, she concentrates on the present.

‘And how is it now?’

But Hecate seems to have veered off into her own thoughts. Julie’s question shakes her attention. ‘How is what now?’

‘How is it now for witches and wizards _of less conventional tendencies_?’

Hecate averts her gaze.

‘Not ideal. Not at all.’ She almost whispers. Then she seems to take courage, and looks up. ‘But there is hope. Co-ed isn’t the only thing people like Miss Pentangle are fighting for.’ There is something unsaid at the end of her sentence.

‘And you?’ asks Julie, as cautiously as possible.

‘What about me?’

_How do _you_ feel? What do_ you _want? What are _you_ fighting for?_ ‘How is it for you?’

‘Oh, I’m not as brave as them.’

Julie knows Hecate is wrong. In light of all of this, everything that Julie knew about what being here tonight means, acquires an even deeper meaning. Now that Julie knows all the rules this breaks – and Julie knows how Hecate always had to feel toward rule-breaking – Hecate Hardbroom spending the evening with her, looking her in the eye, and openly agreeing to call it a date seems like an even bigger act of bravery.

* * *

Julie starts to shiver, even with her shawl on, so Hecate suggests moving inside. She gets up and puts on some water to make tea, insisting Julie should let her. The tender look a sleepy Julie Hubble gives her from the sofa as she does so is extremely scary. They talk about this and that as the water boils, both aware of how heavy-themed their dialogue has been until now.

Once the herbal infusion is ready, she hands it to Julie, muttering a ‘Happy birthday’ with as much of a heartfelt tone as her tired voice can muster.

‘Thank you.’

‘So, how long have your sister and her wife been married?’ Hecate asks, eager to keep the conversation going.

‘They’ve been together for almost ten years now, married for two.’ Julie reaches for the photo on the side of the sofa, and shows it to Hecate. ‘I was _best woman_.’ She explains. ‘Quite the untraditional title, but Mo joked there was no point in calling me _maid _of honour.’

Hecate blushes furiously and clears her throat, pointedly ignoring the innuendo. But then, she extends a hand and picks the photo up. The gentleness in Julie’s hand when she passes it over to her makes her feel like she’s holding something precious. From the photo, a woman in a blue suit, slightly shorter and pudgier than Julie, but with the same eyes under the fringe of her short blonde hair, looks back at Hecate with an ecstatic smile on her face. Next to her is a woman in a beautiful light green dress, holding a bouquet in one hand and hugging a very elegant-looking Mildred with her other arm. Behind Mildred is Julie, smile radiant as usual, as she appears to be glancing over at her sister.

Somehow, ‘You seem very close’ is the only remark that wouldn’t feel like she’s being nosy, even though the photo was handed to her.

Julie takes the picture back and props it up in its original position.

‘We are. We were always thick as thieves growing up. And after Dad died, it felt a bit like it was the two of us against the world.’ She pauses for an instant. ‘I mean, we had Mum, but we knew she was going through the grief of losing the love of her life, and we didn’t want to be burdening her. But the two of us, we knew what the other was feeling.’

Hecate doesn’t really know what to say to that. She is not exactly used to that kind of family connection. Thank goodness, Julie breaks the tension.

‘Also, coming out is so much easier when your older sibling has done it before you.’ She laughs.

They keep talking like that. When the air from the open window gets too chilly, instead of closing it, Julie gets a blanket and covers them both.

Slowly, the talking gets quieter, and the responses more far apart. They fall into a content silence, with none of the tension of having to prove yourself.

As Hecate feels her eyelids get heavier, her hand falls next to Julie’s. She feels five cold fingers enveloping hers, and she doesn’t find she minds. She lets her eyes close, and drifts into a shallow sleep.

That is, until Julie’s telephone rings and its screen lights up with the name of her sister, wondering where on earth they are, almost an hour past ten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, that's it! thanks once more for your kind comments, every single one is profoundly appreciated.
> 
> thanks libbie for proofreading this and making me look less dumb. sorry for all the ahistoric bs
> 
> finally, an announcement: i have finally completed the last chapter of this, that i was stuck on. now, i only have a short epilogue left to write. this means you can expect MUCH more regular updates. thanks again fot the patience while this wasn't the case.


	8. Chapter 8

_"A world transformed. A new life filled with new meanings. For the moment I find it a little hard because everything is too new. I am a novice in dealing with the circumstances of my own life."_  
-Rainer Maria Rilke, from The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

* * *

It has been a whole week since phases one and two of the Plan were executed, and yet Indigo can see no tangible signs of change in HB and Julie. Yes, there’s the stares, so much more unashamed, and the one time they held hands the entire time at dinner, utterly convinced Indigo and Mildred wouldn’t-t notice, but, frankly, considering the prowess with which the Plan was executed, Indigo expected them to be married by now. _Okay, maybe not that._ But surely something more than this. She and Mildred have been anxiously discussing the situation at every chance, yet they can find no other way they can actively further the Plan, not if they want to remain discreet.

One night, Indigo climbs to the rooftop to find HB already there. This almost never happens. For starters, Indigo goes up there much more seldom these days. Yes, sometimes she still wakes up in the middle of the night, and when she does, coming here helps, but it’s not every night like it used to be. And secondly, even then she almost always gets there first. HB always joins her, eventually, but only after a while. To find her here already, and so early in the night, is unusual to say the least.

Even more unusual, the silence Indigo’s come to expect is broken very soon. And by HB, at that.

‘You did a good job today. Your observations were appreciated.’

‘Thank you’ Indigo replies, her heart swelling with something she couldn’t call anything but pure, warm pride. It is not like HB to give out open praise quite so liberally.

HB turns to her with a serious look. ‘Do you already know what you’re doing after you graduate Cackle’s?’

Indigo’s never thought that far ahead, if she’s being honest.

‘I don’t even know what I’ll do after the summer is over,’ she answers earnestly.

HB gives her a look Indigo can’t quite decipher. The mean part of her brain would tell her to jump straight to ‘disappointed’, but she’s not letting herself think that. She’s seen HB disappointed in many occasions, and this isn’t it. _She’s looking more… crestfallen? _No, that can’t be it.

‘Indigo, as your…’ HB looks as if she, too, is at a loss for the right word. ‘Friend, I want you to know that you always have a place at Cackle’s, and people here who…’ Another thoughtful pause, ‘Care about you. As your legal guardian, however, I have to turn that reminder into a strong preference for you staying at Cackle’s, that will only be changed by a safe and appropriately argued alternative.’

It’s not like Indigo was expecting anything else. ‘It’s just... it’s easy to feel at home here now, when it’s just the four of us. I just don’t know if I can fit in here once it’s full of people who think I’m a liability.’

HB sighs. ‘The last thing I want is for you to feel trapped at Cackle’s,’ she starts. Indigo nods. They are both painfully aware of what that sentence implies, but they glide over it. ‘And if that was what you truly wanted, I’d be happy to enrol you at Pentangle’s or any other Academy that we might choose together.’

Indigo is surprised. Not only by HB’s suggestion – Indigo thought she’d be categorically against anything but Cackle’s – but by how she feels about it. She’s spent so much time constructing scenarios in her head where nobody wants her at Cackle’s, or anywhere else, so she goes back to being on her own, that she’s never actually considered whether that’s what she really wants. And judging by the inescapable feeling of_ wrong _that hits her at the mere thought of leaving here, it probably is not.

HB’s explanations allows Indigo to keep silent for a while. ‘What I cannot accept, though,’ says the older witch, ‘is you going back to a non-magical school. You have powers now, and it is imperative that you learn to control them. And how to hone your talents.’

‘Talents?’ is the only word that Indigo manages to get out.

HB looks at her like she’s missing the obvious.

‘Mildred and you both possess a curiosity for the art of potion-making that should not be ignored. With a bit of luck and perseverance, in a few years there’s every chance of us getting you into some of the top potions departments in the country.’

First the praise, then the questions about her future, now this. Indigo doesn’t know what to say. Her thoughts jump to one topic with urgency. ‘What about Julie?’

HB goes red enough to see even in the faint lights from the city. ‘Julie?’

‘Well, if I’m staying here after the summer. What about Julie?’ It’s only after speaking that Indigo realises she’s admitted out loud that she wants to stay. In the stillness of this summer night’s air, she can almost feel HB releasing the breath she’d apparently been holding.

‘She has a life to go back to, she can’t stay at the castle.’ Indigo can clearly hear the _‘No matter how much we’d like her to’_ that remains unsaid. ‘But if you’d like her to, I’m sure she’d agree to stay on your guardianship papers, and you’d be seeing her whenever Mildred does.’

‘But when would _you _be seeing her?’

HB’s face contorts into the same overly-outraged one Joy’s used to have when Indigo did her best to tease her.

‘And what, pray tell, suggested to you that she’d like to see me?’

‘Uh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that you’re constantly making heart eyes at each other?’

‘Heart eyes!’ HB shrieks

‘_And_,’ Indigo continues, feeling brave, ‘that you went on a literal date!’

HB looks so scandalised that Indigo suspects she might transfer at any moment, so she surreptitiously grabs onto a bit of the fabric from the wide sleeve of HB’s black dressing gown, hoping to prevent that. As she does so, Indigo uncovers HB’s wrist, and notices something around it. Something she’d recognise anywhere. HB is wearing the friendship bracelet Indigo made for Joy once upon a time.

She barely has time to register this news, and has absolutely none to make out what she’s feeling about it, before she’s interrupted by HB’s appalled voice.

‘Who told you we went on a date?’

‘So you did! You did go on a date!’

‘I did_ not_ say that!’

‘Yes you did! You called it a date!’

HB seems like she’s about to explode from all the blood that’s rushing to her face, so, now that she’s had her fun and confirmed the Plan has worked, Indigo choses to go easier on her.

‘It’s alright though. I won’t tell anyone.’

After a handful of seconds, HB seems to calm down. ‘Thank you.’ She says in a little voice.

‘Except Mildred. Mildred knows already. Oh, and Auntie Mo. And Auntie Janet of course. But no-one else, I promise.’

HB’s eyebrows shoot up with so much momentum that Indigo thinks she might fall off the roof.

* * *

Mildred knows Indigo is up to something, but for the first time since they met she can’t figure out what it might be. She starts from the two things she knows. The first is that this seems to have something to do with the fabric sachet her friend has been carrying around in her pocket at all times. The second is that the content of the sachet must be something that requires constant attention, as Indigo spends the entirety of her free time fidgeting with whatever it is, always ensuring to angle herself so that Mildred can’t see.

It can’t have anything to do with the Plan, because Indy knows they’re in this together and would never go ahead with anything behind her back. Mildred won’t even entertain the thought she had for a millisecond, that Indigo had once again lost control of her powers and was planning something. _No._ Mildred trusts her friend. _Plus, who would devise evil plans using the tiniest of purple bags?_

This has to be something else.

One time, while Mum is getting ready for work, Mildred mentions the bag to her. She tries her best to do so with the utmost nonchalance, so as to not get Indy in trouble.

‘I don’t know, darling, I think it might just be an object she likes.’

_It can’t be that. No one spends so much time fussing over just any random object!_

Mildred bites her tongue in order to keep up appearances, and very restrainedly responds: ‘But she doesn’t even like purple!’ Mildred’s not really sure how Indy feels about the colour, it’s just an excuse she comes up with to acceptably refute Mum’s theory. ‘And I know for a fact she hates bags! She can’t stand the sight of them! Especially tiny ones! And that kind of velvety fabric? Her mortal enemy.’

From the mirror she is using to put her makeup on, Mum’s reflection looks at her like she does when she knows something’s brewing. Sometimes literally.

‘Mildred, what are you two up to, now’

‘Nothing, I swear! I’m just confused about that purple bag.’

Mum gets up from the desk she’s been sitting at, and faces Mildred.

‘Well, she’s allowed to have things just for herself, isn’t she?’

‘I guess she is’ Mildred concedes. The implication that she doesn’t leave Indy her spaces stings just a little bit, but Mildred knows this is Mum, and Mildred knows she doesn’t mean to hurt. Nevertheless, Mum earned a bit of stinging back from Mildred. She knows exactly what topic to bring up, but does so with levity. She doesn’t _really_ want to hurt Mum, just to tease her a bit.

‘How was the date with HB on your birthday?’

‘Wha– Who– Mildred, who told you that was a date?’

Seeing Mum so uncharacteristically flustered, to the point of starting a sentence three whole times before completing it, is payback enough to appease Mildred. Except, now she’s mentioned the topic, there’s not really any taking it back.

_Well, no point hiding the truth._ ‘Auntie Mo did.’

‘Auntie M–? I– ‘Mum interrupts her panicked jumping from sentence to sentence with a sigh, ‘Mildred, you do know Auntie Mo has no business categorising my relationships, let alone telling you about them, right?’

Of course, Mildred does. Sometimes Mum acts like Mildred will just believe anything Auntie Mo says, but she’s almost a grown-up now, and just ‘cause she adores her Auntie doesn’t mean she puts her on a pedestal.

‘Yes, Mum I do, I was just kidding.’

Mum goes back to acing her shows up, which she’d interrupted to scold her. ‘Good.’

‘But was it a date?’

Mum finishes her knot, then look up to her. ‘Yes, it was. I’m sorry. I should have told you and Indigo earlier.’

Mildred shrugs. ‘You have nothing to be sorry for, Mum.’

She gets up from the corner of Mum’s bed she’s been sitting on in her pyjamas, and goes to hug her Mum. Mum went back to tying her other shoe, so it’s quite an awkward hug, but the two of them have never minded awkward, and they won’t start today.

Then, Mildred remembers her question hasn’t been given an answer yet, and thinks she would really like one.

‘So, really, how was the date?’

* * *

One night, at the table after dinner, Indigo clears her throat and takes out the small purple purse. Hecate doesn’t know what’s in it, but remembers one morning, during their now daily pre-transferring talk, Julie mentioned Mildred appeared quite worried about it.

Indigo looks quite excited. ‘I have a surprise for everyone,’ she says, then gets shier. She glances at Hecate. ‘I mean, the actual present is for Julie and Mildred, but it really is a surprise for _everyone_.’

This is confusing, and Hecate doesn’t like to be confused. But everyone else seems so excited, and she is so tired of being the odd one out, so she just plays along. She ignores the quiet panic that’s bubbling at the pit of her stomach. And, really, that’s an easy feat, when Julie and the girls are so giddy.

Indigo extracts something from the bag and ties it around each of the Hubbles’ wrists. Ignoring her gut feeling becomes less easy when Hecate finally sees what that is. It’s two similar but not identical colourful woven bracelets. Instinctively, Hecate’s left hand reaches for the bracelet on her opposite wrist. It’s undeniable the other two are mirroring this one.

She feels the smile on her lips drop.

Suddenly, the anxieties she forced herself to ignore when she chose to wear that bracelet are resurfacing. She doesn’t know what any of this means. She doesn’t know _why _Indigo would give bracelets to Julie and Mildred. Do _they_ know what the bracelets mean, as they put them on amidst _wow_s and _thank you_s? What if Hecate’s the only one making such a big deal out of a few braided threads? So many possibilities enter her head at the same time, crossing each other, talking over each other, louder and louder, and it’s becoming difficult to follow any of them to its reasonable conclusions. Does the bracelet mean the same to Indigo as it does to her? What if she doesn’t even remember about it? What if she hasn’t noticed Hecate’s been wearing hers? What is she saying, then, by making a gift – even just a meaningless one – only for Julie and Mildred, and not for her? _But what if she does? What if she remembers precisely what the bracelet meant to Joy? What does it mean to give one to Julie and Mildred? _

Hecate cannot seem to stop her frantic thoughts, and she doesn’t think she can take this anymore.

As she wordlessly transfers away, she thinks she can see Indigo’s heart breaking on her face. After that, it’s Julie’s faltering smile that follows her as she materialises in the field outside, as far away as possible from the people she’s just disappointed.

* * *

Julie has no words. It was all going so well, Indy’s gift was such a sweet thought, and they were sitting here enjoying the night, when Hecate went and poofed herself away. Indigo is sitting in silence, tears forming at her eyes. Mildred was about to launch on what Julie knows was going be a long, angry tirade, until the girl saw her friends’ face an stops mid-sentence to go hug her. Actually, Julie has several words, all of them furious, and Hecate Hardbroom is going to hear every single one of them.

She makes sure the girls are alright, then she takes them to their room and waits until they’re calmer, showered and in bed with books to distract themselves. Although, she has no doubt they’ll drop the books and start talking as soon as she leaves. Still, she gets a bottle of lavender oil from her own room and applies two drops to each of the girls’ wrists, hoping it’ll help them sleep. In all of this, Hecate is not mentioned once, nor what happened. Julie thinks it best to give them space for now. Once they assure her several times that she’s not needed, and that they will call her if and when she is, she closes the door behind her. She starts marching her way around the castle looking for the person her anger is directed at.

Surprisingly, she doesn’t find Hecate anywhere around the school. She contemplates searching places other than Cackle’s, but figures Hecate wouldn’t really have anywhere else to go. So, she heads for the castle grounds with a vigour in her steps which resonates in the halls as she leaves. It is completely dark outside, and Julie’s never been a fan of that. She turns her phone’s torch on and hopes it will make a difference somehow. This is only making her angrier.

When Julie spots her in the middle of a meadow, Hecate doesn’t move or speak. In her flip-flops, Julie moves her feet through the grass, making her way toward the witch as far as she can.

‘Care to explain whatever the hell that was?’

Hecate doesn’t turn or even budge the slightest bit at Julie’s words.

‘I _asked,_’ Julie repeats, getting exponentially more irritated, ‘what on earth that was and you _will _answer me.’

‘I don’t appreciate being the butt of the joke.’ Is Hecate’s monotonous response. Still, she turns her back to Julie.

Julie has had it now, so she circumnavigates the witch and forces her to face her. She just wishes she was tall enough to not have to look up to her. She straightens her spine in the hopes it will add a centimetre or two.

‘If you think any of that was about you being the butt of some kind of joke you made up, then you really are a lost cause.’ Julie hears herself say, with perhaps too much vitriol in her voice.

‘You _don’t know_ what those bracelets mean.’

Hecate stares into the dark distance, away from the castle.

Well, if this is the game Hecate’s going to play, then it’s her loss. Julie cannot contain herself anymore.

‘What I know is that Indigo was just trying her best to express love and gratitude to all of us, included you. Can’t you see all the girl wants is for you to be part of her family again? And Mildred, Mildred worships the ground you walk on, she always has! If only you saw the way they both beam when they think they’ve made you proud! They _need _you to recognise that, and to start acting accordingly. Disappearing when things get hard to bear? well that’s just_ cruel!_’

‘Enough.’ Hecate demands, finally looking down at her.

There is a moment of stupor on both sides.

‘I’m not finished!’ Julie exclaims then, ready to start right back where she was interrupted.

‘Oh, yes you are,’ rebuts Hecate, voice low but firm. ‘Tomorrow morning all three of you will go back to the flat. I don’t want to see the girls until school begins. From now on I am their teacher, and nothing else. And I sure as the darkest of curses don’t want to see _you _again. You _will_-’ a pause ‘-leave tomorrow.’

Julie can see almost nothing anymore, and she’s not sure whether it’s from the darkness or her rage.

‘No.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘I said no. You don’t get to uproot us all for a whole summer, and then send us back just like that. We’re not parcels, for God’s sake.’ She takes a breath and goes in for the kill. ‘Be an adult, for once, and face the people who love you.’

For the second time in as many hours, Hecate Hardbroom disappears from in front of Julie’s eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well... i'm sorry for this lmao. thanks for reading, and double thanks if you've left a comment, it truly means a lot.
> 
> thanks to libbie for existing


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a slightly shorter chapter than usual, but the next one will be longer. this one comes with a little game built into it, though: whoever can tell which line in this is an Extermely Vague reference to an iconic verse in the Divine Comedy wins. what do they win, you ask? well, nothing but my neverending admiration cause like. it's a Real Vague Reference
> 
> also, this is the first chapter of anything that im posting without my friend libbie's patient proofreading, so i'm afraid you might have to be as patient as she usually is if you find any weird mistakes

_“You wanted happiness, I can’t blame you for that,_

_and maybe a mouth sounds idiotic when it blathers on about joy_

_ but tell me_

_you love this, tell me you’re not miserable.”_

_-Richard Sicken, Crush_

* * *

When Hecate wakes up, the feeling of cotton sheets is a soft shock. Right now, any reality seems unbearable but one in which she has stood in the field outside the school all night, and the night has gone on forever, and Julie never came to look for her, and she was left there alone forever. Clearly, that reality is not the one she’s in. Images start forming in Hecate’s memory of solitarily dragging her own body across the corridor, after accidentally transferring to the wrong part of the castle in a panic. Then come the images of standing in front of the window for so long before undressing and lying in bed, not without the strongest dose of sleeping potion she’s had to take in months. She can still feel the buzzing effect of the potion against her skull, and she’s sure it will follow her all day.

She puts off getting dressed for the longest time, knowing when she does she will have to consider the prospect of going to breakfast. And exiting her room will mean meeting the other inhabitants of the castle. So she just lays there contemplating the depths of her idiocy and listening to her own stomach grumble. Then the fasting overpowers the shame.

As far as Hecate knows, there is no cooked food ready for her to summon, so she does have to transfer to the kitchen. She just hopes it will be empty.

Of course, it isn’t. All three of the people she was trying to avoid are there. As soon as she registers her presence, Indigo gets her plate and leaves the room with it. Julie follows the child, but not without muttering ‘Happy now?’ at Hecate, and darting a poisonous look at her. Hecate sighs, and tries her best not to attract Mildred’s attention as she cooks an egg. Of course, Mildred being Mildred, and the two of them having been left alone, Hecate can practically feel the girl’s eyes following her around the kitchen. As she turns to her, Hecate notices Mildred is moving all kinds of non-breakfast food on her plate. She had not even considered the idea that it might not be morning. She wonders how long she slept for.

‘Are you alright?’ asks Mildred, uncharacteristically shy.

Hecate has no idea how to respond. _No, she isn’t alright_. But she’s not in the position to burden Mildred with this. So she keeps quiet and concentrates on stopping herself from transferring away a third time. She refuses to dig herself deeper into this guilt.

Mildred looks unperturbed by Hecate’s silence.

‘Mum said we’re moving back to the flat tomorrow.’ Proclaims the girls nonchalantly.

Hecate only realises her hands have given in as she hears the muted clink of her knife on the wooden table. Out of all the possible outcomes of her stupidity, this is the most unexpected. After all, her and Julie did exchange quite heated words on this very topic mere hours ago, and Julie has explicitly refused to leave. Hecate turns to Mildred.

‘Your mother said that?’ she asks, still incredulous.

‘She said it would do us girls good to have a break from being in the castle before school starts again and we have to be here for months on end. She said we could even go on a short last-minute holiday somewhere.’ Mildred scoots closer to where Hecate has had to sit, not trusting her legs to keep her standing. The child tilts her head, and speaks like she’s deciphered an arcane mystery. ‘I know that’s not what it’s about, though. I think it’s about you.’

Hecate is not surprised by the fact, just that Mildred noticed it. It’s about time she stopped underestimating the girl. ‘Why do you say that?’

‘I think she’s mad at you. She always gets so mad when the people she loves let her down.’

_There it is. That word again_.

‘Especially if it has anything to do with me. And with Indy, now,’ continues the child. ‘I’m not mad at you though.’

Now, that finds Hecate unprepared. ‘You aren’t?’

‘No, I can see that you’re sorry.’ Mildred brings this up with that tone she tends to use when she’s oblivious of how perceptive she’s being, and thinks she’s simply pointing out the obvious.

‘I am.’ Hecate doesn’t know if that will be enough.

Mildred nods, then gets up.

‘I better go now, or I won’t have time to brush my teeth before we have to start packing.’

And with that, she’s leaving the room.

Just as she’s crossing the threshold, though, Mildred goes back and quickly throws her arms around Hecate’s torso, then runs back out.

* * *

Only a few seconds after Indigo slams the door to her room behind her, she hears a knock. She knows it’s Julie, she heard her steps behind her as she ran here. She lets out a groan that she hopes will sound vaguely affirmative, and the door opens. Julie goes to sit right next to where Indigo is lying face down on her bed and puts a hand on her shoulder.

‘She’s very sorry, you know?’

The words Julie’s using sound very forgiving, but Indigo can tell from a tinge of her tone that she’s still furious.

Indigo turns her head to reply, so that her voice won’t be muffled by her pillow.

‘How do you know?’

‘Oh, I just know.’

‘So she didn’t actually_ say_ she’s sorry.’

Julie looks down, and her right hand goes to pick at the threads on her left sleeve.

‘She didn’t.’

Indigo sits up in her outrage, and perhaps she hits her head on the bookshelf over her bed a bit too hard, but she won’t acknowledge it during this conversation.

‘Then, how am I supposed to know? She won’t apologise to me, she won’t apologise to you, how is that being sorry?’

Indigo hopes her voice is charged not with the whining tone of a child, but with the frustration of an almost-adult. She knows what she means when she talks. She just wishes she didn’t feel so little.

‘Sometimes people show their feelings in different ways. Doesn’t mean she shouldn’t also apologise out loud, though.’ Julie concedes, with a smile. ‘I must say,’ – Julie’s hand rests on Indigo’s shoulder – ‘you sure didn’t give her a chance to speak right now. That was a sprint worth of an Olympian.’

Indigo cannot stop a small bout of laughter at that. How is it that Julie always knows the right thing to say?

* * *

Hecate tries to get some work done, but she can’t. Her mind is clouded and she just cannot seem to be able to concentrate. _Well, this is annoying._ It never used to be like this. If anything, times of distress where always when Hecate worked at her fastest, and she knows for a fact that she has produced her best writing when at her absolute worst.

Yet now, she sits at her desk, an aggressively blank page in front of her, and she can’t do anything about it. She doesn’t know how she’s going to face the impending hurdle of days before Ada comes back. Not with this guilt, not if she’s going to be alone. She supposes she could leave the castle, but the prospect terrifies her. So here she is, with the blank page she never thought she would get.

A door opens, no knocking. It is Indigo behind it.

Hecate doesn’t dare speak. Indigo does instead.

‘I came so you could apologise, so if you want to, this is your chance.’

Her resolute tone awes Hecate. She would be proud of Indigo, if she were in the position to be. Instead, she gets up from her seat, and leans on the desk ask she does what she’s been asked to._ What she needs to._

‘I am sorry.’ Her voice is low, and so are her eyes, and it cannot be enough. She looks Indigo in the face. She clears her throat. ‘I apologise. I acted from fear of being hurt, and I hurt you instead. I am truly sorry for that.’

Indigo seems surprised that her stunt has actually worked. Or maybe it’s Hecate’s words.

‘Fear of being hurt?’ she asks, puzzled but sympathetic. She takes a step toward Hecate, and that’s a relief.

Hecate holds her breath and explains herself.

‘I- I guess I was afraid of being replaced. Of being set aside, maybe. Eventually. And I didn’t know I was, but I was. Possibly this entire time. I realise-’ She stops for a moment, takes a breath. ‘I realise I cannot be your family like the Hubbles are.’

Indigo takes more steps towards her, until they’re in front of each other. She does so very quickly. Quickly enough that Hecate doesn’t notice her hand until it has smacked her on the upper arm. Not very strong, it certainly doesn’t hurt, but a vigorous smack nonetheless.

‘Why do you have to be so silly?’

_Now that’s a new one._ Hecate’s been called many things in her life, but ‘silly’ was never one. Before she can open her mouth in reply, she feels two lanky arms around her.

‘Why do you have to be so silly?’ repeats Indigo, her tone much softer.

Hecate doesn’t know why. She rests her chin on the adolescent’s head and stays quiet for a while.

‘Thank you for letting me apologise.’ She says, with as much sincerity as she can muster, trying to untangle herself from the hug without making it look like a rejection. She rests a hand on the girl’s shoulder instead.

‘Julie made me do it. Well, not _made me_, but she pointed out I didn’t let you earlier.’

‘Julie?’ Hecate can’t believe her ears.

‘I know right!’ Indigo’s eyes widen, ‘She’s been so mad at you all day, and now all of a sudden she’s coming to me and saying you’re sorry, and that you would say it if I let you.’

Hecate nods. She doesn’t dare contradict Julie Hubble, even though she isn’t in the room. She lets Indigo continue.

‘It makes no sense? It’s like, she’s so angry, but somehow she’s also defending you? I don’t know, I thought it was very silly.’

‘Very silly, yes.’

Hecate can’t help the wisp of hope taking root in her chest.

* * *

Packing doesn’t take a lot of effort, and Julie is glad for that. They have only what they came here with, which is just a moderate amount of clothes and various objects and knickknacks the girls brought with them. Bless the time Julie made them downsize their luggage on their way here.

Nevertheless, they do have to gather everything and put it away, and Julie wants to make sure everything is folded up in a vaguely neat way before it goes into the trunks. _God, the trunks._ Those sure are going to look ridiculous on the bus back home. But Julie refuses to ask Hecate for magical help. It just means three short broomstick trips to the bus stop and back with the luggage for the girls, and then a fourty minute walk back to the stop for all three of them. And bus trip hope, including two changes. _No biggie_. They can definitely manage on their own.

The girls don’t seem overly enthusiastic at the prospect of moving back to the flat. They’re packing far too quietly, and putting things away far too tidily. For a second, Julie considers rethinking this whole thing. _No_. They need to go. The girls seem to have forgiven Hecate, and she’s glad. But they don’t understand that Julie is doing this for their good. They need time away from the school, and -frankly- they need time away from Hecate. It’s not healthy for children to spend so much time with their teacher, childhood best friend or not. Yes, this is definitely what’s best for everyone. It has nothing to do with Julie’s wounded ego. She will admit, though, she’s looking forward to not having to risk seeing Hecate’s face around. It’s just her chest tightens up when she’s reminded how much she had come to trust the woman. And how little it took for her to break that trust. Still, even that is about the children. Julie won’t let anyone hurt her daughters like that and not suffer any consequence. Well, her daughter and her daughter’s friend. _Same difference._

‘Can we still come help HB with her work in the afternoons?’ Mildred breaks the silence.

‘That would sort of defeat the purpose of moving away, wouldn’t it dear?’ responds Julie, trying not to sound hostile. It’s not Mildred she’s mad at.

‘Please! Maybe not every day, but we have to come!’

_Great. _Now Indy’s in this too. Julie knows how unstoppable these two are when they put their minds to something. Maybe she should regret having helped Indigo forgive Hecate. She doesn’t, really.

And now Mildred’s back at it. ‘We have to, Mum! She needs our help!’

‘I hardly think pluri-award winning researcher Hecate Hardbroom will be unable to publish her next work unless you two are involved in it.’ Julie smiles, and places a small caress on top of Mildred’s head to make sure the kid knows she’s not belittling her.

‘No,’ admits Mildred, ‘but we’d still like to help like we did all summer.’

‘…Wait a minute!’ Interrupts Indigo.

Julie hums her way while folding one of her striped shirts away.

‘How did you know HB’s won awards for her writing?’ asks the child.

Julie really should abandon any hope of these two letting anything slip.

‘Alright, I’ll let you come back.’ Concedes Julie, hoping to distract from the fact that she has absolutely gone to the school library and looked up Hecate’s work, one night when she couldn’t sleep. ‘But only in the weekend. And for no longer than three hours at a time. I can drive you here and she can transfer you back when you’re done.’

The girls high-five, but Indigo gives Julie the look of someone who hasn’t been fooled by Julie’s decoy, and is only letting the awards thing drop out of her own benevolence.

Still, they seem to have been cheered up by Julie’s concession.

* * *

A pair of pale-freckled hands land on Hecate’s desk with a smack. She looks up. Julie Hubble. It appears everyone’s choice of punishment for Hecate is refusing to knock on her office door. Or at least part of their punishment. Hecate doesn’t miss the venom in Julie’s piercing gaze. Nor does she miss the resentment in the woman’s tone when she speaks.

‘The girls are coming to see you both weekends before school begins. They want to help with your work. I will drive them here, and you will transfer them back after precisely two hours. Understood?’

Hecate nods. She guesses she deserves the cold shoulder.

‘They asked for this. Don’t disappoint them.’ adds Julie, slightly softer.

‘I won’t.’ Hecate promises, her voice more resolute than she feels. ‘So you _are_ leaving, then?’

‘I thought it was you who aske- no,_ ordered_ us to.’

‘And I thought you said no!’

For all the effort Hecate puts into catching Julie’s gaze, the woman is intently avoiding hers.

‘Well, you’ll be happy to hear I changed my mind.’

Hecate thinks it best to change the subject. She fully believes otherwise they’d be stuck on this for the rest of the day otherwise. Maybe she should offer to give them a lift to the flat, but she can’t bring herself to. She won’t have more of a hand in this than she already has. She settles for what she knows she needs to say.

‘If it means anything, sorry for the other night. And thank you for giving me a chance to apologise to Indigo. I am truly grateful for it.’

Julie scoffs. ‘She chose to speak to you, I didn’t do anything.’

If Hecate wasn’t entirely aware of how much she has to expiate, she would make Julie look at her. She would make her talk to her for real. But she knows her place.

‘Still, she said you defended me. That was very kind of you.’ She hopes Julie will accept her offer.

‘I didn’t do it for you. It was for Indigo’s sake. It had nothing to do with you.’ Julie continues to be inexpugnable, but she finally looks at Hecate ‘We will be leaving tomorrow morning. The girls might chose to come and see you. I don’t think I will.’

Hecate’s heart breaks that very moment. _(‘I sure as the darkest of curses don’t want to see you again’)_

‘Very well, then,’ she says, trying to keep up what little connection she has achieved with Julie. As much as it hurts, she owes it to her. ‘I guess this is goodbye.’

‘Goodbye.’

Hecate thinks she hear Julie’s voice break. _Probably just an impression._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks everyone! next chapter is the last proper chapter, then a short epilogue! see ya soon


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content warning: this chapter contains a brief mention of meal-skipping. please take care of yourselves if this topic might affect you. if you would like a version of the chapter with that bit cut out, feel free to ask me in the comments or contact me on my tumblr (lesbianmoomin).
> 
> speaking of my tumblr, it's also where you can find a link to my playlist for this work (check out my golden hour tag on there), if you're interested in that.

_ “Her breast is fit pearls,_

_ But I was not a "Diver" -_

_ Her brow is fit for thrones_

_ But I had not a crest._

_ Her heart is fit for home_

_ I - a Sparrow - build there_

_ Sweet of twigs and twine_

_ My perennial nest_.”

-Emily Dickinson, Her breast is fit for pearls

* * *

Hecate watches them leave from her window. They don’t look back to her. 

She has avoided the kitchens in the morning, sparing Julie the apparent nuisance of her sight. It did make her smile to hear four young feet outside her office, where she was having breakfast, though. Her smile turned to a small headshake as she heard the two girls squabbling outside her semi-open door over who should knock. _Good to know the regular courtesy of knocking has been reinstated._

They said their goodbyes, with cheerful promises from the girls of being back each weekend before school starts. Slightly _too_ cheerful promises, perhaps. It looked as if they were afraid to leave her alone with their sadness, and were trying to protect her somehow from the separation. It makes Hecate sadder to think about that. _It shouldn’t be them doing the protecting._

Anyway. They’re gone now, and Hecate has the whole school for herself, before Ada comes back next week to set up for the new schoolyear. She has a whole week before her and no one to share it with. There’s a weight that comes with that. For the first time, though, there’s also a freedom. She wanders the castle on that first day, but not like she’s used to. Not in the fast-paced, utilitarian way she does when school is in session, constantly intermitted with transfers to this or that corridor. Nor in the way she did for so many nights, aimless and disconnected, careless of her surroundings. This feels new, like she’s paying attention for the first time to what is around her. She is not happy but she feels grounded.

And when she gets to the kitchens, and the door in them, she steps outside. It’s a beautiful day, so she takes a few steps into the backyard. And then she takes a few steps more, until she’s out in the school grounds. She’s in the yellowing field, where they ate so often this summer, and then she’s in the wood, right where she thought her best friend would be petrified forever. But this time, there is no statue, only trees, and birds chirping. She pays attention to her feet, and the undergrowth they’re walking on. She carefully steps over a line of ants, carrying such big burdens. There is a small plank of wood some student must have placed over the now-dry bed of a narrow stream. She gathers her skirts slightly as her heels knock on the board. She walks on. Back toward the school. The playing field, then her little herb garden at the back. The broomstick shed.

Before she can think better, she’s on a broom. It’s not a very smart choice, really. For starters, the brooms in the shed are child-sized. She’s grabbed one of the biggest ones, for the taller students, but it’s still shorter than she’s used to, and her balance is completely off for the first couple of times she flies it around the castle. Secondly, the brooms are not the quality she’s gotten used to. They aren’t bad per se, but they’re still very clearly what the school could afford with its ever-dwindling funds. Which certainly isn’t the newest models. Hecate does realise she has a custom-made, new-generation broomstick waiting for her in her room – a gift from Ada on her fiftieth birthday last year – but she’s conscious that going to get it might give her time to think on what she’s doing, and therefore stop her.

Now she’s on her third circumnavigation of the school on a too-short, badly balanced, middle-of-the-road broom. The sights you’ve been flying over for over three decades can get old quite easily. So, Hecate takes a sharp turn at the castle’s highest tower, and flies South. As she approaches the school’s confines, she feels her nerves tense. No matter what she knows, her body feels like it’s going to be denied access to the world at any moment.

But it isn’t. She flies right over the limit, and nothing happens. And now the whole horizon opens up to her. And she’s alone. No one’s with her, and she’s not flying to anywhere people are. She feels the sharp absence of a familiar pair of arms holding steady on her waist, so she holds herself closer to the broom and flies faster than she thought this broom was capable of.

As she leaves the city behind her, she tries not to think of the people who must have just reached it by bus, and will be unfolding clothes or cooking lunch by now. _No._ She thinks of what lies ahead. Of the row of hills before her. Their shapes familiar from her solo flights at the school, but there are details she could never make out in the distance. Houses, fields, little white sheep, and those tall metal structures ordinaries seem to like planting everywhere and connecting with what looks like a long rope. Maybe some kind of art… _what’s the word? Installation? _Hecate takes another turn and tries not to think of installations, and art, and museums, and lovely walks along a canal, and dinners with tables half-out in the terrace. _And eyes looking at you across that table like you’re the only thing that matters in the world._

She takes another turn, east this time, along the hills and past them. She can already make out the sea, shining in the midday sun. She’s not ready for the sea. She turns back, heads home. When Cackle’s appears to her, it is not a punishment anymore. It is a choice.

* * *

Julie’s been nervous all day at the prospect of driving the girls back to the castle. _Well, it’s not about the driving, really, is it? _All this fuss was really about the prospect of having to see Hecate again. Well, it turns out all the worrying was for nothing, ‘cause the whole thing resolved itself with the girls hopping out of the car by themselves and skipping their way into the castle without Julie having to do so much as get off the car.

Hit by the anti-climax, and with a half hour drive ahead of her, she decides to call Mo. She turns on her car’s loudspeaker while the phone is still ringing, and doesn’t even reply to her sister’s ‘Hey, how you doing!’. Instead, Julie jumps straight to the point.

‘So, you know Hecate? The Hecate that you said was _my _Hecate, but was she never really was, but yeah, that Hecate?’

Mo gives her a chuckle. ‘Of course I remember Hecate! I mean, first of all it’s not like I know many Hecates. And second, how could I forget the woman my sister impulsively moved in with at my niece’s weird boarding school?’

Mo has never been very approving of Mildred going to away to study, she says that she’s far too young to be apart from her family and that she can’t see why she can’t go to any other school. Well, it’s not like Mo knows why Cackle’s is not like any other school. Although at some point she’s bound to find out.

‘It’s not weird! And I did _not_ impulsively move in with anyone!’

‘Of course not.’ Mo seems to concede. Except it’s followed by her fake-coughing and muttering ‘U-haul!’ in a stage-whisper.

‘Will you stop!’ responds Julie, outraged. ‘That’s not even a thing here! Just cause your wife’s American!’

Mo’s laughing now, like she did when Julie was little and she always fell for her sister’s instigations.

Julie knows she’s starting to sound like the angry little sister, as she did then, but she can’t help adding: ‘Anyways, I’m not living there anymore.’

Mo stops laughing. ‘You aren’t?’

‘No, we’re not.’

‘Is that why you called? Did you two break up or something? Do I have to fight her? Cause that twig of a goth has nothing on me!’

Julie smiles at the ridiculous thought of Mo trying to engage in a physical fight with Hecate.

‘We didn’t break up, because, as I’ve told you_ several _times now, we were never together in the first place!’

‘Alright, alright, whatever you say. What did she do, then?’

Julie loves Mo for assuming Julie did nothing wrong. She could be caught on camera committing literal murder, and her sister would still be adamant that she didn’t do anything, and if she did, it’s not her fault anyway. She’d be wrong, and she sort of is this time as well, but that doesn’t mean Julie doesn’t love her for it.

‘So.’ Julie takes a big breath before she starts to explain for whatever reason she moved back. ‘Hecate and Indigo, they have history.’

‘What kind of history?’ asks Mo, sounding like she’s ready to jump to the wildest possible conclusions, as she tends to do.

_No conclusion can be quite as wild as their real history, though._ It’s only now hitting Julie how she can’t exactly tell Mo about petrifications and confinements. She has to make up a magicless version on the spot. ‘They’re estranged family members.’ _Not the most creative, but it’ll do._

‘Oh. Okay. And what happened?’

‘Basically, they have these matching bracelets, right? And Hecate’s started wearing hers again. And Indy made some for me and Millie as well.’

‘Aw, that’s cute…’ interjects Mo.

_Well, it is._

‘Except that Hecate freaked out about it. Because of their… history. And she reacted in a way that hurt the girls. And I yelled at her.’

‘And you were right to do so!’ Mo once again responds without having the full picture.

‘We both said things.’ _(the words ‘cruel’ and ‘lost cause’ ring louder than anything in Julie’s mind) ‘_I may have overreacted and decided to go back to the flat.’ Julie pauses for a moment. ‘She apologised to me, and she apologised to the girls, and the girls did forgive her. In fact, they’re with her right now.’

‘So, let me get this right,’ starts Mo. ‘You fought with this woman, who you clearly care about – don’t try to say you don’t. You only call me in this kind of state when you care. She’s apologised, and the children have forgiven her. Have _you_ forgiven her?’

Julie doesn’t know what the answer to that is.

‘Yes- I mean, no! I think I just. I took this stance just ‘cause she said we should leave, and at first I said we wouldn’t, but then I wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine. And then she apologised, but I couldn’t go back on my tracks anymore. So I didn’t speak to her, and when I did I didn’t look her in the eye, and then I left. The kids wanted to stay, to help her with her work, they say. I think they just love her too much to leave her alone. And I found that I sort of wanted to stay, but I couldn’t, because I’d said tha-’ Julie comes to a realisation. She stops her car on the side of the deserted street. ‘Oh God, Mo. Am I making myself unhappy out of spite?’

Mo laughs again.

Julie can’t believe this. ‘What. What are you laughing at?’ 

‘Nothing, it’s just you do this every time. You call me in a frenzy, and you never know what it’s about, but then you always get there, and you talk yourself into it, and then out of it, and you emerge with your own conclusion! And I’m just here, nodding along. Did you know you’re amazing?’

Julie rolls her eyes, and scoffs at the remark, which she knows to be true. She restarts the car, and tries to figure this whole mess out.

‘But what do I do now? I can’t just. Move back to the school. It can’t be good for the children to keep going back and forth, and they’ll be back there anyway in a week. They need time away.’

Mo is silent for a second.

‘Indigo, she’s not just staying with you for the holidays, is she?’

This might be Julie’s first straightforward answer in this entire phone call. She didn’t know until her sister asked, but she’s sure of her voice when she says: ‘No, she isn’t.’

‘Good. I just needed to know.’ Mo’s reaction is just as straightforward, and Julie feels her heart swelling. ‘Well, no, it’s not very smart to go back now, I don’t think.’

‘Then what do I do?’ She feels so small, asking this to her sister.

Her sister, as usual, doesn’t treat her like she’s small at all. ‘How about you just talk to her?’

‘Yes, but how? I can’t exactly show up to her like _hello, I know I yelled at you and then gave you the silent treatment and moved away, can we make peace now?_’ She makes this imaginary version of herself sound more nasal, slightly annoying, and quite childish.

‘Well I think first of all you need to figure out what you want. And then you’ll find a way to talk to her.’

Julie hums her assent, like she doesn’t really believe it. She’s two turns away from the flat, so it’s time to hang up.

‘Alright. I have to go now. Thank you so much, and give my love to Janet!’

‘I will. Love you, bye.’

Julie’s preparing to hear the beep of her sister hanging up, but instead she hears Mo’s voice again.

‘Oh, and next time, please _at least_ wait until you’ve actually married the poor woman before divorcing her and having the kids visit her on weekends.’

_Beep._

* * *

The second Mildred materialises back home that Sunday, she hears Star’s little paws clicking on the floor as he runs to greet her and Indy. Her friend picks the dog up with one hand, and tries to untie her shoes with the other. It’s not proving particularly successful, so when Mildred’s taken hers off, she quickly extends a hand to grab Star so that Indy’s hands are free.

‘Thank you,’ smiles Indigo.

Once they’ve both moved to the sofa, Mildred looks her friend in the eyes. ‘Please, tell me that you’re thinking what I’m thinking.’

‘That this dog is starting to get a little too heavy?’ Indigo jokes.

‘No, about Mum and HB!’

Indigo looks confused. ‘What are you thinking?’

‘Well, Mum’s been going around all week looking like she hasn’t slept for fifty years! And HB… Well HB has been far too permissive, today _and _yesterday. I mean, come on, I spill the entire contents of my cauldron on her notes and she says nothing? Two days in a row? Something’s up!’

Indigo smiles as her eyes widen: ‘I _knew_ you were spilling it on purpose!’

Mildred feel a little embarrassed as she scratches Star behind his ears. ‘Well, the _second _time was on purpose...’

‘So…’ Indigo looks around for a moment, then lowers her voice and moves closer to Mildred. ‘So… you’re saying we should resurrect the Plan?’

Mildred nods like the answer is obvious.

As she does so, they hear Mum’s voice coming from her room. ‘Girls, is that you?’

‘Yes Mum!’ they both reply in unison.

Mildred doesn’t mention the slip of her friend’s tongue, there are more urgent matters at stake. She nods her head toward the terrace, and Indigo nods. The girls move into the balcony, the dog at tow, and sit on the floor there, further away from Mum’s ears.

‘Okay so. The Plan.’ Indigo nudges on.

‘I think we should make them talk.’ explains Mildred. Clearly the adults in question cannot be trusted to solve this on their own.

Indy nods in agreement, but her face is doubtful. ‘Yeah, but how?’

‘I think next weekend, when Mum drives us to Cackle’s.’

Indigo rolls her eyes ‘Yeah, as if! Julie won’t even get out of the car.’

‘Then we make her! How about we say that we want to start moving some of our stuff back into the castle so that we don’t have to fly with it next Monday?’

Finally, Indigo seems to see where Mildred’s going. ‘…And then we say that we can’t carry it in on our own and we need your Mum’s help!’ 

Mildred gesticulates her agreement. ‘Yeah, and then they’ll have to see each other!’

‘Wait a minute, though.’ Indigo’s more suspicious side comes out once again. ‘Even if they see each other, doesn’t mean they’ll talk things out. We need a stronger excuse…’ She stops a moment to think.

Mildred thinks it’s one of the coolest things about Indy that she always considers every detail of a plan. If it had been up to her, she’d have planned up to the bit where they brought Mum up to the castle, and then winged it from there. _Which would be a recipe for disaster._

Indigo has a look of mischief in her eyes. She has an idea. ‘How about we lock them in the lab! Then they’ll have to talk, or we won’t let them out!’

Mildred thinks it’s a great idea, and she’s about to say so. Then she remembers her first years at Cackle’s, and HB being subject to love potions and personality changes. Then, of course there is the question of the confinement. She thinks if they do this, they should leave HB some choice.

‘I’m not sure that would work,’ she explains. ‘You know how they both are when they don’t get things their way. I think this should be their choice.’

As Indigo nods, Mildred knows that she has understood what Mildred meant.

‘Alright. Then how about we just bring them to the lab. And then we just leave them there. No door locking. I don’t think they’ll want to leave anyway.’

Mildred smiles. A breeze hits her face, and she feels a newfound sense of assuredness.

‘And if they do. Well, then at least we know we tried.’

* * *

Ada has been back since the beginning of the week, and Hecate’s been working with her to prepare for the introduction of ordinary-born girls to the school. The curriculum needed adjustment, of course, accommodating for all the things these girls won’t have been taught at home, both by making sure this knowledge is integrated in regular classes, and by offering additional courses on the basic uses of magic and customs of the magical world. Furthermore, some of the school’s very rules and policies have had to change. Naturally, this comes with hours and hours spent discussing the smallest of clauses. What surprises Hecate, though, is that she’s not always taking the positions in said discussion that Ada would expect her to.

It was clear, when Ada first arrived, that she was surprised by the absence of any Hubbles or Moons. Hecate is grateful to her for not asking any questions right away, and giving her time to explain on her own terms. Eventually, she does so one evening, sitting in Ada’s office with a warm cup of tea and a spoon to stir to avoid looking her friend in the eyes. They’ve been working so hard all day, and Ada’s desk is heaping with paper and parchment. Books, and codices, and timetables, all splayed out for them to work on, accumulating on top of each other as the days go by. When they couldn’t physically keep their eyes on the material anymore, they decided to move to the armchairs and grab something to eat.

Hecate has been skipping several meals. She knows she shouldn’t, but she just can’t help it when she’s so immersed in the work. Ada, for her part, keeps finding stealthy ways to feed her, like she always has. So finally, with a biscuit in her hand and her back resting on a soft cushion, Hecate tells Ada everything. Her friend just nods along, looking quite surprised that she’s speaking so much unprompted. Once Hecate’s done, Ada simply pats her hand with a sympathetic ‘Oh, Hecate…’

‘You’ll be pleased to hear Mildred and Indigo are coming to help with my research on weekend afternoons.’ Hecate tries to steer the attention away from herself. What she fails to mention is that her research is effectively completed, the first draft already sent out to the publisher. She just can’t bear the idea of the girls not having an excuse to come see her. ‘They’ll be here at noon next Saturday.’

‘Oh, but that’s amazing!’ responds Ada. ‘If I’m not mistaken, Saturday is the day that Miss Tapioca is due back, would you like me to ask her to fix you a light meal for four?’

Sometimes Hecate has no idea what Ada is going on about. ‘Four? It will just be the three of us.’

Ada is acting suspiciously innocent.

‘Oh, you know. I was thinking you might want to ask Julie Hubble to stay for lunch.’

Hecate can feel her face heat up. She pretends it’s because of her third cup of tea, kept scalding hot by a spell. She’s glad Ada’s back, she really is. _But, by Merlin’s beard, is the woman irritating when she meddles in people’s lives._

‘That won’t be necessary. Last time they were here, she didn’t even get off her car.’

Ada puts down her cup. ‘Hecate.’ She’s looking more sombre now, like she does when she’s trying to communicate serious school-related news. ‘I am going to speak in all honesty. As your headmistress, I am not going to say anything about parent-teacher relationships, because this school has already interfered far too much with your private life, and because your situation is quite unusual, especially with regards with the custody of Indigo Moon. I admit that I had a hand in pushing you into this. Maybe I shouldn’t have allowed Miss Moon to stay with the Hubbles in the first place, and I certainly should not have allowed students to live at the school during the holidays. But, again, this is quite the unprecedented case. And I don’t believe all that came out of it is necessarily negative.’ She stops and gives Hecate a small smile. ‘Mildred Hubble helping you on your research? I’m not sure I’ll be able to believe it until I see it. And as for Indigo, I genuinely cannot express how happy it makes me to hear that you’ve been able to mend your relationship.’

Ada pauses, refills her cup of tea for the fourth time. When she gestures for Hecate to have some, Hecate shakes her head. She doesn’t say anything else. She wouldn’t know what to say anyway.

‘So, no,’ continues Ada, ‘I will not question you for developing a relationship with Ms Hubble that transcends the usual confines of parent-teacher interactions. Nor would I have any problem, were you to choose to continue it.’ She gives Hecate a knowing look. ‘In any form it may take. But please promise me that if anything else fails, you’ll at least be on speaking terms with her. As the parent of one – no, two – of our pupils.’

Hecate can’t reply. She knows Ada is right about being able to be professional with Julie Hubble. But that’s not what has hit her the hardest about Ada’s speech. _‘In any form it may take.’ _Hecate had mentioned the museum to Ada while recounting the events of her summer. But she couldn’t mention the dinner afterwards, or the people who assumed that her and Julie were on a date. And of course she couldn’t mention how she truly feels about Julie Hubble, of all people. _There was a case, years ago, of a witch who was fired from a Scottish school because it had come out that she had been in relationships with women._ Hecate can’t picture having to leave Cackle’s.

But Ada has always known her far too well, and Hecate understands perfectly well what that sentence meant. She feels like she’s been carrying a boulder up a mountain her entire life, and now she’s finally allowed to let it roll down the slope. She extends her hand for Ada to take. She never used to do that. It was always Ada that reached out to her.

As Ada takes her offer, Hecate finds her words.

‘I’ll talk to her. I promise.’

* * *

As Julie pulls up her car in Cackle’s courtyard, she’s feeling strangely confident. The girls have given her the perfect excuse to see Hecate when they asked her to help bring some of their equipment up to the potions lab. Apparently, they’ve even gotten permission from Miss Cackle herself to leave the car here, away from the eyes of overzealous policemen who, unable to see the castle, could have left Julie a hefty fine for leaving her car to the side of the road.

And mostly, she’s feeling confident because she’s had a whole week to think about this. When she was at work, she’s been thinking about this. When she took the girls on walks to the park, and then released them to play in the tall grass like over-excitable golden retrievers, she’s been thinking about this. When it rained and there was nothing else to do but sit down with a cup of tea and her knitwork, she’s been thinking about this. And she’s come to her conclusions. She knows what she wants, and she knows what she wants to say. She’s ready to face Hecate Hardbroom.

As soon as they get off the car, the girls get a box each and disappear, running into the castle. ‘See ya in the lab, Mum!’ is all that Mildred leaves her with. So, Julie decides to take her time. She gets her own box to carry from the backseat, she locks the car, and she ventures into the school. She remembers the lab is in the east wing from when she’s been there in the past, but it takes a moment to orient herself. Truth is, she’s never actually used this entrance. Her first visits were all via transference, and even while she stayed here, she’s always used the kitchen door into the school’s grounds. She never really had a reason to access the plain grass quadrangle that is the inner yard.

Once she’s gotten her bearings, it takes Julie less than a minute to find her way. As she pushes the door open with her shoulder, her hands occupied by a big cardboard box filled with ladles and strange jars, she’s met with a most amusing sight. The girls are behind the desk, Indigo sat on Hecate’s chair and Mildred perched on the two smaller cardboard boxes they each carried here. They’re leaning on the desk like little businesswomen. As for the potions mistress, she is standing in the middle of the room in her usual perfect posture, looking rather out of her depth. She is the first to speak.

‘It appears, Ms Hubble, that we have been ambushed.’

Julie rolls her eyes. ‘Oh, please Hecate. None of this Ms Hubble business.’ She puts her box down on one of the students’ desks. ‘What’s this about, girls.’ Julie puts her best Stern Parent Voice on, as the situation doesn’t look promising.

‘Julie.’ Addresses her Indigo.

‘HB.’ Mildred’s heat bows slightly, in an almost parodic way, as she says her teacher’s name.

‘It is time we told you about the Plan,’ continues Indigo.

Hecate looks like she’s about to explode. ‘The Pla- Whatever in Merlin’s name…?’

Mildred stands up and walks a couple of steps around the desk, like she’s a cartoon villain. It would really be funny if it wasn’t infuriating. ‘So. On the day of the Harvest ritual, it has come to our attention that you two have what one might refer to as…’

‘…Big fat crushes on each other,’ Indigo finishes. ‘Ever since Julie’s birthday, we have been putting in our best efforts to facilitate the natural evolutions of this fact.’

Julie’s so mad she can’t hold it in anymore: ‘Mildred Hubble,’ she half-yells, ‘you’re getting grounded for this!’ As soon as she finishes speaking, she notices Indigo opening her mouth to add something, so Julie stops her by pointing at her, and giving her her fair due. ‘You too, Missy, don’t you think you’re getting off easy.’

Hecate is terrifyingly silent.

Julie turns to the girls once again. ‘I don’t want to hear one more word about this. You two better learn to keep your noses out of other people’s business. Understood?’ The girls nod. ‘Now, apologise to Miss Hardbroom, right this instant.’

‘Sorry, HB.’ They both say, sounding not very sorry at all.

Then, Mildred dares speak again. ‘Look, Mum, I know it’s not right to meddle in people’s lives. And we’re sorry for it. But please, if we leave you alone now, could you please talk to each other?’

Once again Indigo picks up Mildred’s speech. ‘It’s just. We can see that you were happier when you were speaking to each other and. We don’t care if we’re wrong about the crush thing, could you please be friends again?’

_It’s quite heart-warming, actually._

Then, Indigo turns to HB specifically. ‘We’re sorry if we made you feel ambushed. We just wanted you to have a chance to talk. We weren’t even planning on locking the doors.’

At that last sentence, Hecate’s eyes look like they’re about to shoot out of her cranium. Well, at least it’s a sign of life, which is more than she’s been showing for the past couple of minutes. After she’s calmed down, Hecate simply turns to Julie and nods.

‘Alright,’ says Julie to the girls, ‘How about you go say hi to Miss Cackle in her office? I’ll deal with you two later.’

The speed at which the girls leave the desk, hug both of the adults, and then run out of the room in a profusion of thank you’s is frankly impressive.

As soon as the door clicks shut, Julie and Hecate speak at the same time.

‘I’ve been wanting to talk to y-’

As they realise they’re uttering the same sentence, they each stop.

‘You first’ murmurs Hecate.

Julie wants to be courteous and let Hecate speak first, but she’s not sure she can. For all her swagger in the car, she’s not feeling so sure anymore, after seeing Hecate’s reaction to the girls’ assumptions. For a moment she considers calling the whole thing off. Imagine how humiliating it would be to confess your feelings for your children’s teacher only to find out said teacher wants nothing to do with you. _Well, it can’t get much more humiliating than your own children staging you an intervention._ She’s going to do it, and if she’s going to do it, she will have to do it now.

‘Well, first of all, I think I owe you – and the children, for that matter – an apology.’ She sees Hecate is going to argue against that, but Julie really needs to say this. ‘Please don’t say I don’t. You apologised last time, and instead of talking to you, I overreacted and took the kids away anyway.’

Hecate nods, not looking entirely convinced, but willing to give Julie this.

Julie’s hand reaches to the small pendant she’s wearing, if only to keep itself occupied. She takes a deep breath.

‘I think I left because I wanted you to stop us. To prove that you didn’t actually want us to go.’

Julie knows she had to say this, but this whole letting your feelings out thing is quite terrifying. She keeps looking at Hecate’s face, trying to catch a glimpse of what she’s thinking.

When Hecate finally speaks, it’s with incredible softness. ‘I’m sorry for disappointing you.’

Julie wants to punch herself in the face for being the person who put that resigned tone in Hecate’s voice. ‘You didn’t!’ she replies, perhaps a bit too forcefully.

Hecate seems to be regaining some of her vigour. ‘But I did! I didn’t stop you when you wanted me to! And I said I-’ Hecate stops, and takes a full gulp of air before continuing. ‘I said I didn’t want to see you again. That wasn’t true, by the way.’ The last bit is added with an almost childish shyness.

‘Well, I called you cruel!’

‘And I upset Indigo!’ rebukes Hecate, this time with more emphasis in her voice.

‘And I used her to make you feel guiltier! What kind of parent does that?’ Julie’s practically shrieking now.

‘Well, I treated you lik-’

‘-No,_ I _treated you like-’

Julie stops herself. She lets out a chuckle.

‘Are we seriously fighting over who should apologise the most?’

Hecate smiles back at her. ‘Yes, it appears we are.’

‘Can we consider each other forgiven?’ Julie asks. Her stomach flips at the prospect of a negative answer.

But Hecate keeps smiling. ‘Of course we can.’

An awkward silence rises. Julie knows this would be the right moment to talk to Hecate about her. _Feelings. _It’s just that she’s not sure she can bring herself to.

Instead, it’s Hecate that breaks the silence.

‘Did you mean what you said that night? The last thing?’

Julie tries to remember what the last thing she said was, but it’s all a bit of a haze to her. The last thing she remembers saying is calling Hecate cruel, just because she’s berated herself so much about it since. But that can’t be what Hecate means, she’s already made it clear that they’ve forgiven each other.

Hecate must sense her confusion, and offers an explanation. A hard explanation to produce, from the pained look on her face. ‘When you talked about… The people who love me.’

_Oh._ So that’s the last thing she said. Leave it to Hecate Hardbroom to face being called cruel no problem, but literally disappear at the mention of being loved.

‘Of course we love you! I mean, the girls. The girls love you very much.’

Hecate nods, looking… _resigned?_

‘And that’s all you meant?’ She asks Julie. ‘There is no foundation to the girls’ claim that-’ She can’t seem to be able to bring herself to finish the thought, but Julie knows exactly what she means.

Julie also knows she’s being an idiot. _A complete and utter idiot! _This woman is standing right in front of her, asking her precisely what Julie has come here to say, and she’s not actually saying it. So, she quickly musters all the courage she has, she takes a deep breath, and she closes her eyes while she says it.

‘I meant it, okay? I meant it!’

A silence.

Everything is so still that, while her eyes are still closed, Julie thinks that maybe she’s imagined all this: the magic academy, and the ridiculous, unreasonable, beautiful potions teacher, and a young girl, fresh out of a petrification spell, a whole summer spent together, and so much joy, and a little bit of heartbreak too. Well, for all she knows in that instant, she could very well have gone entirely mad and made it all up.

She opens one eye, slowly, squeezing the other shut even tighter. She sees her lashes separate, out of focus, and beyond them she sees Hecate. Hecate, who is standing incredibly still, like the most attractive lamppost on earth, small-smiled and dewy-eyed. She only speaks once Julie has opened both eyes.

‘You do?’ she asks, incredulous. ‘You mean you’d want-?’

Julie takes a step towards Hecate. She can’t stop herself from smiling. ‘Of course I’d want to! I’d want everything, you silly old thing! I let you take me on a date on my literal birthday, for Heaven’s sake!’

Joy and frustration fuse into something Julie’s sure she’s never felt before. The only thing she can do is laugh.

Hecate covers her mouth with her hand as she joins Julie in her laughter. It really looks like every single one of their nerves needed the relief.

Julie feels emboldened by the reaction, but she needs to ask anyway.

‘Does this mean you’d also want to?’

This time, Hecate doesn’t simply nod. She looks Julie in the eye and she says it out loud.

‘Yes.’

Julie doesn’t think she’s ever heard a more beautiful sounding syllable. In a moment of euphoria, she closes the distance between them, and wraps her arms around the other woman’s waist, making sure she gives her more than enough time to move away if she wants to.

As she rests her head on Hecate’s chest, Julie feels the witch lean her chin on her head, and both bodies relax. She doesn’t know how long they stay like this, in silence, it could be seconds, it could be whole minutes, but she knows that at some point the other woman puts a gentle hand on her upper back, moving her thumb in the slowest, smallest of circles.

At one point, Julie’s memory travels to that night, on the terrace, when Hecate told her about witches loving women. Synchronically, she feels a swell of pride at Hecate for being so brave, and a pang of worry.

‘You’ll be okay, right?’ she moves her head away from Hecate’s chest, so that she can look her in the eye. The witch is giving her a puzzled look. Julie explains herself. ‘I mean, you’ll be fine? You won’t get fired or anything? I don’t want to cause you any shame.’

Hecate shakes her head tenderly, then moves her hand further up, toward the nape of Julie’s neck, delicately guiding them closer together again. ‘You wouldn’t be causing me any shame,’ she speaks into Julie’s hair. ‘And if anyone has a problem with it, they won’t say anything. They know I’m the country’s leading expert in poisonous potions.’

Julie lets out a breathy laugh.

‘As for my job,’ continues Hecate, ‘I can assure you Ada will more than approve. Just this morning she sounded like she was planning our wedding already.’

Julie takes a step away, breaking the embrace, but holding onto one of her hands. ‘Wedding? Easy, tiger!’ She makes sure to exaggerate her outrage, so Hecate will know it’s fake.

Hecate’s ears instantly go a bright red, which quickly spreads to her cheeks.

Julie swings their joined hands side to side a little, feeling quite silly. ‘How about you kiss me, before you start with talk of weddings?’

Hecate looks surprised that that’s even a possibility. _Bless this idiot._

_‘_Can I?’

Julie pulls on Hecate’s hand ever so slightly, as she nods and hums a ‘hm-hm’. She puts a hand on Hecate’s cheek, giving her the time and choice to make the next move.

For a moment, Hecate just stands there, leaning her cheek on Julie’s hand. She turns her head slightly, so that her lips rest on Julie’s wrist for an instant. Then she closes the distance.

And she kisses her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, that's almost it! i'll be publishing an epilogue next week and then this whole thing will be done.
> 
> thanks again to every single person who has left a kind comment, they're always appreciated.


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